Weekend Update

Here is an update of my weekend:


FRIDAY NIGHT:


I decided to lay low on Friday night.  I was worn out from all of the Welcome Week activities.  So, me and some of the girls watched 27 Dresses in Jillians room.  


SATURDAY:


I had intended to buy a bike this morning, but that didn't end up happening.  I went to the bike sale that the school was having at 10am only to discover that they only take cash.  I didn't have enough cash to buy a bike so I went to a nearby ATM, but much to my disappointment my card doesn't seem to work in Danish ATMs.  So I left the sale without a bike and with an urgent need to figure out my debit card. And did I mention that it was bitter cold outside? Because it was.   Needless to say, not a great start to the day. 


But it soon got better.  Exploring the city was out of the question because it was so cold outside so I sat down with a cup of tea and got some job applications done and managed to organize and upload some pictures.  Soon enough it was time to get ready for our welcome dinner...


The Welcome Dinner was really nice.  Although I was bummed to learn that coat check was going to cost us 20 DKK (about $4) even though we already payed for the weeks events.  Other than that it was really great.  The set up and decorations were a throwback to highschool prom, complete with disco balls and cheesy photo backgrounds.  The food was absolutely delicious.  I went back for seconds of the traditionally Danish creamed potatoes.  Will almost set me on fire at dinner when he was moving a napkin and it touched the flame of a candle on the table.  For a moment I thought Porcelaenshaven was going down in flames. But will reacted  amazingly fast blowing out the torched napkin, all is well that ends well.  


The dance after dinner was also a great time.  Some Danish punk/techno type band played.   A very eccentric bunch and quite entertaining to watch even though I wasn't a huge fan of the music.  After the band there was a DJ (much better dancing music).  


One thing I don't understand about all these Danish girls. They wear heels ALL the time, when they're walking down the street, riding their bike, going to class etc.  So I decided to try to fit in in this aspect and wore my heels to the dinner...well about 5 hours in my feet were so swollen you could see the outline of my shoe puffed up in my foot, I could hardly feel my feet much less walk. So of course we had to RUN so we wouldn't miss the metro home and half to wait another 30 minutes. The metro is about 5 blocks from where the dinner is.  Thankfully I had Charlie and Chris cheering me on and Alaina there to feel my pain.  We did indeed make it to the metro with 1 minute to spare and I surprisingly didn't break an ankle on the cobblestone roads.  

When I got home I made sure I had all my toes and ran my feet under freezing water for about ten minutes to try and reduce the swelling...I think it worked, they didn't even hurt the next morning.  


SUNDAY:


Sunday morning was once again sunny (yay!)  So I got up, made some breakfast and headed out for a run to the lakes once again.  SO pretty!  Now, there are a lot of pigeons here in Copenhagen and they are FEARLESS.  There was a whole group of them on the running path  and I assumed they would fly away as I approached.  But no.  They don't seem to mind people running at them and only fly away as you are about to step on them...right into your face.  So I ended up swatting away pigeons as a ran...this was a new experience for me and a rather unpleasant one at that.  I think I'll try to maneuver my way around them from now on. 


After my run me and some of the girls made a trip to Christiania, the lawless hippie commune here in Copenhagen. It is quite the place.  I wish I could post pictures of the inside because they have some really neat art pieces and graffiti, but picture are not allowed in Christiania.  Weed, on the other hand, is.  It is a very interesting sight to see weed being sold by a street vendor and people smoking it out in the open.  The place also reeks of the herb, I think if you stayed there long enough you could get high off of the fumes.  But we only stayed for a little while to take a look around.  

a little taste of Christiania - a building right outside of the hippie commune

When we got back home from our visit to Christiania we planned our first trip.  We are going to Prague on the weekend of the 12th!  more to come on that later.


Sunday night a few of us went to a bar/club playing some reggae music.  Very interesting crowd.  The music was actually really good and watching everyone there dance was quite entertaining...anything goes when dancing to reggae music...we only stayed for a little while because we had our first day of classes the next morning.  


That brings us to today.  I just got done with classes.  They are about 3 hours long which actually wasn't so bad.  I do need to go buy school supplies...while packing I didn't really think to much about class (fancy that) so I'm lacking all of the essentials...I didn't even bring a pen.  That is on the to do list for today. 

hej hej for now!

Another sunny day in Copenhagen

Hej!


So today was another sunny and beautiful day here in Copenhagen.  I think that's 3 days in a row now!  

So Catherine and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go on a run across the city today. I love running here, everything is so beautiful to look at and all the beautiful people here make for good people watching!  We ran to Tivoli which is so very pretty, even just from the outside, when it is all lit up.  I can't wait to go there in the spring when it is open and everything is in full bloom.  


Last night we went to a club called Park for one of our welcome week activities.  It was a great time with good music and A LOT of dancing.  Before going to the party we had a crazy night of Bingo. I learned that Danish Bingo is different than our bingo.  Bingo is not spelled across the top of the card...instead there are three rows of numbers and to get a bingo you have to get a full row, 2 full rows or the whole card.  Anyway, Bingo was actually a lot of fun, we played games to determine what the next number to be called was.  The favorite game was throwing these chocolate covered marshmallow desserts at a board filled with numbers.  

my (losing) Bingo card

That's all for now!

Godt nat!

more from Copenhagen

It's a sunny morning here in Copenhagen, one of the first I've seen so far!


So, for my 21st birthday we went to an Irish Pub here in Copenhagen called the Dubliner. There was some great live music and a whole bunch of people came out for the night.  All in all my birthday celebration was a smashing success!

Here are some more pictures from around Copenhagen:

me at Nyhavn

changing of the guards

the little mermaid

The hole in the wall coffee shop that will forever hold a place in my heart for saving my freezing hands and feet!

That's all for now!  vi ses!

det er min fødselsdag!!!

Hello! Yay for my 21st Birthday!  Thankfully I have found a good group of Americans in my residence who understand the importance of the 21st Birthday. But, I've been in Copenhagen a week now and I am absolutely loving it!


Here is what I've done so far:


-Taken a week long course in the Danish language.  I now know how to say 'thank you' and 'sorry' and goodbye'... I also know that I will never really know more than that.  The Danes only pronounce about half of the word, typically leaving off the entire last syllable.  Thank goodness they almost all speak English!


-Gone shopping on Strøget, the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe.  All of the shops are having great udsalgs (sales) right now.  Strøget is beautiful with all of its old buildings and wonderful architecture.


- Attended a bar/club in my school building.  On Thursdays our school turns into Nexus.  It got pretty nuts with a good DJ and a light show to boot.  Very odd to see people fist pumping in your schools atrium. I"m getting a few ideas for Grainger high...


-Went to Nyhavn and to see The Little Mermaid. Nyhavn is beautiful and The Little Mermaid is pretty nice (something you have to see while in Copenhagen).  We did this on a Sunday when hardly anything is  open in Copenhagen.  BIG mistake.  While the weather seemed to be quite nice in the morning after spending and hour and a half outside I could hardly feel my toes or fingers.  Alaina and I went in search of SOMETHING that might be open so we could go inside and warm up. Thankfully we found a coffee shop, a very cute hole in the wall called Kafferiet. While I had to spend WAY too much on a latte I was so thankful to be indoors and regain feeling in my hands and feet.  While sitting at the window of the coffee shop it a very light snow began to fall, it was a very picturesque moment.  


Those are all of the big things so far.  Other than that I've been exploring the city,  getting to know the people in my residence and starting to think about some trips I want to take.


Thats all for now!  Hej hej!