This is guest posting #3 for Travis’ Canadian friend, Josh. I have been
informed by the illustrious editor that I should be less photo-heavy and
more insightful than my previous Russia-based post. I will do my best.
To describe going from Copenhagen to Las Vegas in less than 2 days as a
shock is like saying Lebron’s blocks in game 3 on Rajon Rondo were mildly
emasculating. Shock is an understatement of the highest order. I don’t
think there are 2 places in the “Western” world that could be more
different. I had never been to Vegas before so obviously the shock was
magnified and perhaps anybody who goes to Vegas for the first time is
similarly shocked regardless of where they were before but I think coming
from Copenhagen exacerbates the shock to the n’th degree.
Culture shock is a term that gets bandied about a lot. Any time you travel
somewhere outside of your geographic realm, especially for an extended
period of time, people will ask you if you experienced culture shock. It is
a buzz word (or more accurately a buzz term, since it is more than 1 word),
like ‘globalization’, ‘blogosphere’ or ‘kebabification’ (now officially a
word). In my various travel experiences abroad, I have rarely been
’shocked’ by the new foreign culture. I would describe my reactions as
amazed, impressed, or underwhelmed, depending on the situation. I lived in
Hong Kong for 6 months and I barely was phased by all the writing in Chinese
and the smell of the various markets.
Arriving in Copenhagen is hardly a ’shock’, unless you are shocked by
cleanliness, people who sound like they are speaking with a frog in their
throat or a maritime climate in February. I adjusted rather easily and
enjoyed my time there immensely.
The differences between the 2 places are innumerable. Copenhagen is small,
clean, relatively quiet, designed for biking/walking, devoid of high-rises,
largely a homogenous population and generally based on the principles of
equality (I won’t go as far as to say socialism, but might if I was writing
this drunk). Vegas is massive, excessive, loud, bright, diverse, full of
massive buildings and entirely based on pure unadulterated capitalism and
excess.
Both cities have plenty of beautiful women, but in Copenhagen they
are tall, well-dressed, and seemingly real, while in Vegas, the majority of
‘hot’ women have fake jugs and walk around in bikinis (this is not a
complaint, but I prefer the Scandi women). In Vegas I saw the 2 most
disgraced athletes of my lifetime, ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson and Charlie Hustle,
Pete Rose (Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens may surpass them both but haven’t
yet). In Copenhagen the biggest celebrities I saw were a Danish hockey
player and the the hip hop duo, the Cool Kids and I paid to see them. Not
exactly equal levels of celebrity.
I could go on and on about the differences but Travis needs to get back to
talking about mix tapes and sneakers. I always thought that if I
experienced culture shock, it would be a negative experience (when is a
shock a positive one?). However, I had an unbelievable time in Vegas
(winning money helps) and living in Copenhagen was one of the greatest
experiences of my life (you may say victory was in my clutches, but this is
most certainly a form of copyright infringement). In conclusion, next time
somebody tells you they had culture shock just tell them how lucky they are.
Or that they are full of it. But not both.
