An inspiring place

I have been in Copenhagen (CPH) for the last two weeks. As usual, it took me a bit to put my thoughts together on my impressions on Denmark, in particular considering that this is my first time in a first-world country (sorry France). Here's an attempt to give a written account of that impressions.

The initial reaction concerns that naive ---almost childish-- surprise in appreciating the simplicity of modernity. Clean streets, automatic, easy-to-use transport means, and in general, an organized society. People is in general friendly, an impression perhaps accentuated by the fact it's summer. Another remarkable thing here in CPH is the huge amount of families with small babies. There are baby strollers everywhere! Bologna is certainly not the proper place to see young people (apart from the students) and young families. Most city structures are now customized to the many parents with strollers moving around the city. The outstanding civility in the use of bicycles is something that also strikes me. Of course in other countries using a bicycle as a transport means is common, but here you can tell it is something that is part of the danish character. This is specially true when I think of the marvelous chaos of people in bicycles in Bologna and around.

Being a port, CPH has an special spirit. In its forms CPH is, essentially, a horizontal city. The architecture is different to everything I had seen before; both old and new buildings transmit a sensation of serenity, in which both the great history and the recent changes of the country are reflected. Denmark is a very old country and has gone through a number of events along time. Yet, in CPH you can appreciate a dynamic spirit that provokes creation and even re-creation. In some sense, the old doesn't look that old and the recent looks modern in a very classy way. This can be witnessed in districts and neighborhoods that are very recent or that are being built. The splendor of the modern Danish architecture and (specially) design can be seen everywhere.

In short, I can say now that CPH is a truly inspiring place. I am here for academic reasons, staying at the IT University of Copenhagen. That's the most inspiring CS department that I have visited (not that I have visited many CS departments, though). The infrastructure is amazing, really impressive.

When I visit a place that impresses me, I can't help thinking how much I wish to have my family and close friends to be with me and see the things I can see. In that sense, I feel fortunate. My feeling is that visiting CPH could be an amazing place to inspire anyone back in Colombia. Things are very different here, and differences can be appreciated even in the minor details. Many times I see small things and I say "hey, that's something extremely clever, that's something we should bring to Colombia!" I think of young people in Colombia that feel lost or skeptical about their future. I understand that for them life might seem only a handful of possibilities, something completely opposite to the options young Danes have. I can't help thinking how spending only one day in places like CPH or Paris could inspire a young Colombian for the rest of his/her life. Not only because of the mere experience of traveling and seeing different things, but also because of the shock of seeing that a better world (or, a world that works, if you want), built by people equal to them, is indeed possible.