I’ve added several more mini-albums of stuff to my flickr site if anyone cares to have a peek.
The images are from Alnmouth and the 6 month Anniversary bike trip Grant and I took back in October.
There will be more, but I have essays to write and I’ve goofed off enough today.
ENJOY!!!!
Recently there was “discussion” between me and several coursemates as to whether Finland was part of Scandinavia. I used to think it was, but I was told differently and convinced. This was not by a fellow American, but by a Swede while I was at Boston University. I looked it up online and ignoring what Wikipedia says (we all know how trustworthy they are) I found several sites that give a mixed view.
Business Region Göteborg states that:
The collective label “Scandinavia” primarily reflects the linguistic similarity, but also the strong historical and social ties between these countries despite their current political independence.
The usage and meaning of the term ‘Scandinavia’ is somewhat ambiguous: Finland, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland are still sometimes counted as parts of Scandinavia, as they share strong social and historical ties to Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
In a British mindset, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are usually included, often with the addition of Iceland, Finland, and sometimes even Greenland. The term the Nordic Countries is used unambiguously for the Scandinavian kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the republics of Finland and Iceland.
From a british site, one sees another opinion
Geographically speaking, the Scandinavian peninsula is a territory shared by Norway, Sweden and northern Finland. The Scandinavian countries would therefore only be Norway and Sweden.Linguistically, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish have a common word called “Skandinavien” which refers to the ancient territories of the Norsemen, and for most people in these three countries “Scandinavia” consists only of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. This one is considered to be the most commonly accepted definition of “Scandinavia”. However, Iceland was also a Norse territory and Icelandic belongs to the same linguistic family as Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. And so does the Faroe islands. Therefore, you will find some people for which Scandinavia is Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. And finally, Swedish language is also spoken in Finland and reciprocally, Finnish and Sami languages are spoken in Sweden and Norway. Again, we have a new definition of Scandinavia, which would include Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland.
Culturaly and historically, the north of Europe has been the political playground of the kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Finland was a part of the kingdom of Sweden and Iceland belonged to Norway and Denmark. Besides a common history, politically and economically these five countries have followed a similar model known as the Nordic welfare state since the 20th century. One more time, these five countries are perceived as an unity by some and therefore called by the same name: “Scandinavia”.
What are the “Nordic countries”? In such a state of linguistic and geographical confusion, the French came to help us all and invented the term “Pays Nordiques” or “Nordic Countries”, which has become the most standard term to bring together Scandinavia, Iceland and Finland under the same umbrella.
Indopedia comments that:
Scandinavia is the cultural and historic region of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Scandinavian countries are Norway, Sweden and Denmark, which mutually recognize each other as parts of Scandinavia. The collective label “Scandinavia” reflects the cultural similarity between these countries despite their political independence. The terms Fennoscandia and Fenno-Scandinavia are sometimes used for an extended region.
The usage and meaning of the term outside Scandinavia is somewhat ambiguous:
- Finland and Iceland are many times counted as parts of Scandinavia.
- In a German mindset, Norway, Sweden and Finland are usually included, but Denmark is not.
- In a British mindset, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are usually included, often with the addition of Iceland and Finland.
These alternative meanings are considered incorrect in the local languages, and occasionally some people may take offense by such usage in English.
The term the Nordic countries is used unambiguously for the Scandinavian kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the republics of Finland and Iceland.
Therefore dear Brits, between the Scandic speaking countries Finland does not belong under the title of Scandinavia. And in your own dear country I would like to say that Finland is not agreed upon to be part of Scandinavia, but it is not frowned upon either. Brits also seem to thing that Iceland could be a part of Scandinavia. Geographically Iceland is not, and linguistically Finland is not.
I rest my case. Neither of us wins. To quote a professor from last term, “It depends.”
There is way too much homework and work going on for me to sit here and write about something other than bats.
This week I am being dragged off to Arneside with my coursemates for 3 days (we don’t get back until 9-pm ish on Wednesday and we leave tomorrow at 9 am) and then daily field trips that are “around Newcastle.” We do go back to Houghall College outside of Durham, so that should be alright. We know what to expect there and we know where the toilets are!
The spring weather has hit full blast. Everyone is out and about in very short outfits. And some people are sporting some serious sunburns. I wonder why they don’t use sunblock. Maybe because it’s frickin £8 (that’s the cheap stuff, £13 is where the “good stuff” is apparently) a bottle!!! What is with this country?!? Our $8 bottles of sunscreen are rather large, these, are not. If it were a Costco sized bottle for $13, yeah sure, that makes sense, but these are 300 mL if not less.
Mutter mutter gripe grumble. Yup that’s me. And just so you know, I splurged and got the “cheap” sunscreen in the hopes that I will not turn lobster red any time soon. I burn quickly, although someone seems to have gotten sunburn on the back of his legs right above his knees and I hardly look like I got any sun at all (except for that sunburned part. . .oops, that got red).
Today is Grant’s birthday, so go on his blog and wish him a Happy Birthday. And tell him not to feel bad about turning “old.”
Spring is officially in the air and the tank tops and shorts are out en masse.
Grant and I did the crazy and wild thing today of . . *gasp* going to the library to return some book. Aren’t we just so out there!! While enjoying some sun on a bench near the overpass, I noticed Grant and become home to a ladybug. She/he was all brown with white spots. I’m fairly convinced after watching it for several minutes it had some OCD problems. It was all about the cleaning of feet and face. How clean can you get?!?
In Leazes Park I noticed a guy taking pictures of. . get this. . GOSLINGS!! Awww da behbeh geese!!! They are all yellow and poofy. Mum and Dad were right there next to them and you better not get close. . they’ll hiss at you. One gosling explored about 3 feet away from where everyone else was and suddenly freaked out and ran back to the safety of the group and plunked down next to sibling as if to say, “See, I’m safe!!!” It ran with its little wings stretched out and beak open like AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
Soon we leave for Grant’s dinner and then we’re watching Priscilla Queen of the Desert! Ahmed has never seen it, and I think it’s hilarious. General Zod as a . . . well, I won’t ruin it for you. Hugo Weaving, General Zod (see Superman 2) and Guy Pearce. . . oh yeah!!!! Go see it. NOW!
A real post to replace this. . .
My photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasua/ are all uploaded and labelled appropriately now.
FRIDAY
This day never seemed to end, but in a good way. We left Leazes Terrace about 8 a.m. and trekked down to the train station to grab a pasty and wait for our train to roll in. Our seats were perfectly situated with a smudgy window, but a lovely view towards the North Sea (when we got close enough to the coast). We saw fields of yellow (mustard?), sheep, Lindisfarne, Alnwick, etc. I got all squeely when I saw the dunes at Alnwick because I was RIGHTTHEREONTHATDUNE for a field trip doing Phase 1 Habitat Surveys. Yeah, I’m weird.
As we got to Berwick Upon Tweed we saw amazing bridges (you can see pictures on Flickr) that I took snap after snap of. It looks like such a great town. After that we were POW in Scotland. The rugged scottish coast, the rugged sheep (some looked a little worse for wear), and the scintillating blue sky. I was worried the weather wouldn’t keep looking as lovely as it was in Newcastle, but the weather followed us all the way into Edinburgh. The train goes RIGHT past the castle erm. . volcanic rock. Apparently the train tracks are where the bottom of the loch used to be. It was drained in the 1700’s (1750 something I think). NEAT!
….. more later….
