 |
| Welcome to Samsø |
Last
weekend I joined a group of DIS students for the Sustainable Samsø study tour. It involved two days and two nights of biking, hiking
and learning about sustainability on the island.
Samsø Island is a small island in Denmark. It used to be an island of
purely farmers but in the last decade younger generations had started to leave
the island and as the farming industry became more consolidated, these small
island farms started to go out of business. There were few employment opportunities
for people and the island was left with two options: either it would die out
and no longer be inhabited or find a way to maintain jobs on the island and
incentives for people to stay. In the late nineties the Danish government
issued a proposal: A competition between all of Denmark’s islands to come up
with a plan revolving around sustainability. Whichever island had the best plan
would be granted a large sum of government money to see the plan through.
Soren
Hermansen, a Samsø native, drew
up the plan, which ultimately won the government grant. Since then the island
has carried out his vision. He brought solar and wind power as well as centralized
heating plants to the island, which now produces 10% more clean electricity
than it consumes. The island is now an international showcase demonstrating the
possibilities of sustainable living. The island is also a very popular summer
vacation destination, acting much like Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket, with
beautiful landscapes and charming sea towns.
 |
| Lunch in the Brundy-Ballen Straw District Heating Plant |
Next we visited
our professor’s friend, Jørgen, a local
dairy farmer. We got to pet his cows and see all the cute baby ones as well.
 |
| Can we get one, Daddy, pretty please?? |
Everyone on the island has at least a small share in the windmills on it and this farmer had his very own. He took us out to the middle of his fields where the windmill was. At this point the weather had improved to a beautiful sunny day. We approached the turbine awed by the enormous size of it and surprised by the noise that it made. We were all very excited to see it, when to our greatest delight the farmer asked us to join him up to the top! We climbed up in groups and got to enjoy the view from the top of the wind turbine – INCREDIBLE!
We
biked back to the hostel, all pretty tired, but not tired enough to resist
jumping on the huge bouncy trampoline thing the hostel had. Jumping was
followed by dinner and a campfire. Instead of roasting marshmallows and S’mores
in Denmark, though, they make “snøbrod”. A snøbrod is basically just a baked roll. What you do
is take a long stick and wrap uncooked dough around the tip of it. You then
bake the roll over the fire (which takes much longer than a marshmallow), and
top it off with some ketchup. I have to say, we were all much bigger fans of
the traditional American S’more.
The
next morning we were up early and loaded our backpacks onto the bus, which
drove us to a woodchip heating plant and solar panel field. We learned how both
of these power generators worked and then were back on the bus to get to our
hiking destination in the Nordby
Hills.
The hike was only an hour and was hardly very difficult (I was hoping for
something a little more physically demanding), but offered some gorgeous views
of the towns and the ocean.
Afterwards
we got to experience the largest labyrinth in the world. It was an old abandoned
Christmas tree farm and is now a maze covering six hectares of land with 5.5 km
of paths. We went off in groups answering the maze’s questions and eventually
found our way out after a solid hour. We then drove to the island’s most
popular town, walked around and ate lunch at the local brewery, the Samsø Bryghus, where everything is made with only local ingredients
from the island. The town was incredibly adorable. It was like Martha’s
Vineyard but less industrialized and with thatched roofs.
We
then boarded the ferry and said farewell to Samsø
Island.
Samsø Island is a small island in Denmark. It used to be an island of
purely farmers but in the last decade younger generations had started to leave
the island and as the farming industry became more consolidated, these small
island farms started to go out of business. There were few employment opportunities
for people and the island was left with two options: either it would die out
and no longer be inhabited or find a way to maintain jobs on the island and
incentives for people to stay. In the late nineties the Danish government
issued a proposal: A competition between all of Denmark’s islands to come up
with a plan revolving around sustainability. Whichever island had the best plan
would be granted a large sum of government money to see the plan through. 
Afterwards
we got to experience the largest labyrinth in the world. It was an old abandoned
Christmas tree farm and is now a maze covering six hectares of land with 5.5 km
of paths. We went off in groups answering the maze’s questions and eventually
found our way out after a solid hour. We then drove to the island’s most
popular town, walked around and ate lunch at the local brewery, the Samsø Bryghus, where everything is made with only local ingredients
from the island. The town was incredibly adorable. It was like Martha’s
Vineyard but less industrialized and with thatched roofs. 
We
then boarded the ferry and said farewell to Samsø
Island. 
Scotland was beautiful! I definitely could have studied
abroad here and been very happy. I stayed right in downtown Edinburgh. Since
getting there so early in the morning I was able to explore the quaint city for
a bit before heading to Edinburgh Castle. Every other shop was selling kilts,
cashmere, lambs wool and rugby shirts; I was in my element. I almost bought
everything I saw. And with the reduced prices in the off-season, it was hard to
resist. 
Edinburgh Castle was very cool and I learned a lot of
Scotland’s history through the many military museums and exhibitions I walked
through. Their history involved a lot more compliance with the English. There
were a couple of rebellions here and there but for the most part, almost all
the exhibits I saw were about the Scottish fighting for the Brits and the
Scottish pride they felt for their contributions to the English’s wars. It was
very interesting and so different from the attitudes towards the Brits I felt
from the Irish. Anyways, there has been a royal castle here since the 12th
century has always been an important fortress for the Kingdom of Scotland. I walked
through the room where King James I, son of Mary Queen of Scots, was born in
1566. 
I was told that I also had to visit the Elephant House Café,
where J.K. Rowling wrote most of the Harry Potter books. I enjoyed an Elephant
House shortbread and fresh tea there before moving on to Calton Hill, where I
saw the National Monument, the Nelson Monument (climbed all 170 steps up the
tower!) and the Dugald Stewart Monument. On the way I passed the Scottish
Parliament as well as the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where the Queen of England
occasionally resides. I can’t put
into words the beauty of Edinburgh and all the views I saw. I took a billion
pictures and I wish I could share them all with you here …but I will when I get
home, so get ready!! 
Today I took a much needed sleep in. I felt I hadn’t slept
in weeks – probably because I hadn’t. I was, however, hiking up King Arthur’s
Seat by eleven and experienced the spectacular views it had to offer the whole
way up. Daddy, you would be dying in Scotland with your camera. I don’t think
you would ever move your eye from the viewfinder. The way the sun played on the
cliffs and the city below with the ocean and more islands in the background… ah
I can’t put it into words, other than I want to go back and go hiking
throughout all of Scotland. There also happened to be a half marathon going on
today, where racers were running outside my hotel door and the finish was just
below the hike’s starting point. It was fun to experience that as well but it
made me a little nostalgic missing racing and all.
We were exhausted so decided to rest for an hour or two and
then headed to dinner at the Porterhouse Pub at Temple Bar – the famous street
in Dublin. We arrived around 8:45 and found it was packed with lots of already
drunk people. Coming from Barcelona, we were not used to this. In Barcelona the
usual evening schedule goes like this: Sit down for dinner around 9:30 - 10and
enjoy a drink or two with your meal, go back to your place around 11-12 for
more drinks, then go to the clubs around 1:30 – 2, get home around 6. I have to
say I couldn’t handle the second half of this, but I was getting used to eating
around 9 or 10, so when we showed up at the pub and they almost denied us
dinner because we got there at 8:45 I was not pleased. We did find a table,
however, and had some great pub food and beer samples. I then headed back to my
hotel around 11 to get some sleep before my 8 AM flight to Scotland. 