No Flash Photography

Today my Danish class had a field study to the community of Christiania. Christiania is a self proclaimed autonomous neighborhood of Copenhagen that was founded by hippies, bohemians and the homeless in 1971, who squatted on an old military area. It's residents don't pay for their houses, they only pay a monthly rent of a little over 1,000 dkr which is only around $200.
Christiania may best be explained as a group of people who don't give a shit what the normal thing to do is. They live an alternative life-style: there are no cars, some apartments have no toilet, and the whole place looks run down... oh and they all light up a lot because weed is "legal". I put that in quotes because all though Christianians think of themselves as self governing in a concensus democracy, the rules they make for themselves aren't real laws, they are technically still under the Danish government. Police conduct drug raids sometimes but there are scouts around the entrances to warn the dealers of approaching cops. The people of Christiania see smoking weed as harmless and maybe it is, but it still is technically illegal. The marijuana dealing all takes place on pusher street and the most important rule of pusher street is NO PHOTOS. Photos are evidence, and so a naive tourist will promptly be threatened if they stroll through with their HD Nikon swinging from their neck. My class was warned of this and so none of us had cameras or phones out as we walked through. So as long as your not snapping away, pusher street is perfectly safe. Out tour guide directed us all into a small stand of one of the dealers to show us all the different product he had and how its all out in the open so nothing happens "under the table" and no hard drugs are being sold. There are actually no hard drugs at all in Christiania which is unexpected by looking at the place, its people, and it's reputation. But the residents themselves took the initiative to drive hard drugs out and sent their junkie community members to rehab years ago.
Christinania over all is a very artsy, free-spirited, and tight-knit community. Though it surely hasn't become one of my favorite places in Denmark it does have it's own sort of charm. I loved the art everywhere, on all the buildings and walls, and the people are very accepting because they look at people for who they are and not what they have. Christiania is definitely a unique place in the world and if you visit and think so too, you can show you believe in them by wearing the 3 yellow dots as symbol of your support for Christiania.