As you may or may not have noticed, I live in Bonn. The picture at the top of my blog is the main building of the 200 years old Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn. This is the building where you find the faculties of theology, philosophy and the institutes of history, egyptology, archaeology, anthropology and so on.
Another beautifull building is the 300 year old Poppelsdorfer Palace. Here you will find the institutes of zoology and LIMES, Life and Medical Sciences. Pretty okay, right?
So, now you ask, where am I? Where are the chemists? Well they used to be here, right next to the Poppelsdorfer Palace with a very versatile statue of Kekulé in front of it.
Not bad either, right? Well, the institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology has taken over. In stead teh lucky chemists have been placed here:
Great! Building! The ceiling plates a coming down everywhere so small wood pieces have been attached at every corner. This week fluid was dripping through the ceiling in the mens bathroom. Oh yeah, and no airconditioning combined with an endless number of windows. I`m pretty sure the architect didn't win any prices for this one. On the good side, we have elevators and the company is good. ;-)
Bonn is a beautiful old city, 2000 years old actually. Allthough not much of the original buildings remains. Still since only 30 % of the city was destroyes during World War II, many lovely old buildings remain such as this one.
It's a flowershop and I'm considering entering it just to see how it looks from the inside. :-)
Moving is fun, I love decorating a new place, seing the possiblities. I was looking forward to finishing my thesis and beginning my PhD in Germany in a group I already knew.
But things never turn out the way you expect. The first two months were incredibly hard. Even though knowing some people, good friends are scarce. Everybody is new, everything is new, new rutines have to built, nothing is easy and everything requires an disproportionate amount of energy.
But now, things are suddenly getting better. During a couple of days I've beginning to feel better, just better. I don't feel lonely, I'm getting used to how things run at work and rutines have been established.
Still I recommend everyone, who want's to move to another country, to think twice. And download Skype.
Since moving to Germany my bike has started a small mutiny. First the prop stand broke off leaving the fitting....the rusty fitting. So rusty, that I couldn't get it off. This led to my first encounter with the bicycle repairer. Who gave me a prop stand, that didn't fit onto my bike. Fortunately it fitted onto a colleagues bike, who had just lost the prop stand. Lucky....just not for me.
Bying another prop stand at the repair shop did not help since it didn't fit on my bike either due to my disc brakes. Back to the shop, return the prop stand and ask if they have one that fits.
I show the bike, he repairer looks at it and says: Yes, these brakes are very rare.
Well, depends on where you come from. ;-)
Generally a neat bike in Germany looks like this:
While in Denmark this is a neat bike:
The main difference is the creativity. German bikes are of good quality and look comfortable....and boring, soooo boring. A slim saddel is not standard equipment, and people look with wonder at my bike, which is not exactly high tech.
Moreover Germans are big fans of dynamo sets. And led-lights. And big chunky bike helmets.
I will not succomb to this trend!
The Parliament is in Copenhagen. Every ministry is in Copenhagen. The National Museum is in Copenhagen. The National Archives are in Copenhagen. The largest University of the country is in Copenhagen. Everything is in Copenhagen.
The small schools in the provinces are closed. The small hospitals as well.
Apparently the government is deliberately pursuing a strategy aiming towards concentrating everything around the biggest cities in the country. The overall thought behind this is that the more expertise is concentrated on one spot, the better therapy, education and so on.
But is this really the case and at what cost does it come at?
The outskirts of Denmark, which by now include everything except Copenhagen and Aarhus, is in a poor health. Jobs are few or non-existing. The small villages have been stripped of state institutions such as schools or day care. Maybe that’s the reason why young people and families with children choose to leave the villages in order to get everyday life to function.
In Germany the outskirts are flourishing. Every tiny village has a day care, school, tennis court and many small clubs. And of course the indispensable ALDI. And people live there, young, old, children; because the rent is cheap and everyday life is possible.
This is due to a specific strategy pursued by the German government. As opposed to Denmark the strategy is about spreading public jobs and support local communities. When the Parliament moved from Bonn to Berlin, several other state institutions moved the other way. This is the reason that Bonn is still a living, breathing city.
Four years ago a technical university opened in Remagen, a city with a population of 10.000. This would be unthinkable in Denmark, but nevertheless works south of the border.
The question is, is it too late to turn around this development in Denmark? Moving the tax department to Ringkøbing was a start, but the general picture does not point towards decentralization. One can only hope, that Fælleslisten is able to convert their goals into votes, and that these votes are heard. Otherwise an important part of Denmark will be lost.
