the cosmopolitan review

by Kinia Adamczyk

I didn’t know what to expect before heading off to Denmark where I was to join Étienne Gernez, a 26-year-old French engineer and founder of the project One Step Beyond and the rest of the crew working on a documentary about eco-villages in Scandinavia. I had just recently graduated and spent a week at a conference on maritime security in Baku, Azerbaijan – a big leap from an oil centre to a “green” project.

OK, I’ll be honest. I did expect eco-villages to be a bit like hippy communities. I had visited one just outside of Aarhus, Denmark’s second biggest city, in 2008. In Friland, you were not allowed to take a mortgage and you had to build your house yourself from natural materials. One member of the community was driving a car fuelled by used frying oil from fast-food restaurants. The village seemed slightly disorganized and messy. Ben Miller, the crew’s soundman, confessed he had similar ideas about ecovillages:

by Witold Rybczynski

It was 1967. I was twenty-four, a freshly-minted architecture graduate spending a year abroad. After driving through France and Spain, and an idyllic several months on the island of Formentera, I was back in Paris, staying with my uncle and aunt, before returning to Canada. But first, I wanted to visit Poland. I had been born in Edinburgh and now lived in Montreal, but both my parents were Polish, and many of my relatives were in Poland. It was not family obligations that drew me, however, but curiosity. All my childhood I had heard my parents tell stories about their lives in prewar Poland, and for me these stories had something of the quality of once-upon-a-time fairytales—not quite real, but potent nevertheless. And now I had a chance to visit the princess’s castle, touch the beanstalk, perhaps even to glimpse Rumpelstiltskin.

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Europamobil – moving Europe

Is Europe really as far as it seems to many Europeans? Not if you move it to where the Europeans are. This is the idea of Europamobil, a project organised by the Genshagen Foundation, which aims, amongst others, to promote civic dialogue between Germany, France and Poland. Students from different European countries travel with a bus, the Europamobil, all around Brandenburg, situated in Eastern Germany, for eleven days, visiting schools where they are to meet pupils of different ages in order to convey the beauty of the European thought  – its diversity and plurality.

By Kinia Adamczyk, editor-in-chief

editor [at] cosmopolitanreview.com

BAKU, Azerbaijan -- The Azeri “bride’s” rich and ornate blue dress twirls sensually as she glides over the wooden floor. Her mysterious stare mesmerizes the onlookers, male and female alike. Her “groom”, not one to stand by as her beauty steals the show, proceeds to engage in a complex and rapid foot dance.

This staged folk wedding for the guests of a luxurious Caspian Sea resort in Baku reflects that Azerbaijan is a country not only rich in natural resources, but also in traditions of a people as ancient as the black gold spilling out of their sea. There are an approximate 50-55 million Azeris in the world, with up to 18 million living in Iran and less than 9 million in Azerbaijan.

By Justine Jablonska, 2008 PitR Alumna

justine[at]cosmopolitanreview.com

ROME, Italy -- A friend’s toddler’s favorite phrase is “By Self.” Everything must be By Self, from taking off her socks (“By Self?”) to putting them back on a minute later (By Self!). This fall, I spent 10 days in Rome By Self. What follows is my guide to Rome for those lucky enough to spend time in this gorgeous city By Self.

Things to Do When In Rome By Self

1. Live it up single-style. Stay in a single room at any one of a number of small family run hotels, such as the Hotel San’Angelo, located right off the Ponte Cavour. The meticulously clean room is so comfortable and cozy that you will be quite pleased to not have to share it with anyone. Breakfasts are included. The cornetti—flaky and stuffed with thick custard—are perfect, as is the cappuccino.