Lovely Copenhagen

I don't know exactly when it happened, but sometime in the 7 weeks that I've been here I've stopped being a tourist and have started seeing everything with a new set of eyes. Even in the way that I walk down the street - I don't stop to look at everything anymore the way that I used to. My commute to school is so routine - I hurry to the train station in the morning through a shortcut to make my train. I get on the train about 2 minutes before it leaves, and first take my coat off, put my headphones on and pull out my book. The next 45 minutes are mine to enjoy. As soon as I hear "naeste station - osterport" I know it is time to put my things away because I will get off at the next station: Norreport. From this station I cross the street and walk down one of the walking streets (meaning cars are not allowed on these streets). I walk past the book store and the little cafe that always looks so inviting. I walk by the library that looks more like a cathedral, and once I am past it I take a right and walk by Frue Plads - a big beautiful square. I walk quickly and know to walk on the larger stones rather than the cobblestones so my feet don't get as tired. Once I get to Gammel Torv - I walk down Vestergade to DIS and about one hour after leaving my house I am finally at school! I know my way around the city now and walk with a purpose rather than as a tourist. I have even been asked for directions several times!

Last night though, I experienced a different Copenhagen in Kulturnatten - Culture Night. Everything in the whole city was open until midnight - museums, cafes, towers, cathedrals, everything. There were countless events going on such as concerts, free food, laser shows and more. After making some dinner at Gabi's Kollegium (which is like a dorm), we headed out to Kulturnatten. We decided to go to Christiansborg - which used to be the royal palace. Underneath it though, there are ruins of the old palace which burned down. We wandered through these underground ruins with a little bike flashlight Madeleine luckily brought along. Afterwards we walked around the city, and I have never seen it so alive! There were thousands of people on the streets very early into the morning, people of all ages. It was wonderful. There were street performers, music, and art everywhere! People watching at its prime. Walking around Amagertorv I felt something familiar that I couldn't figure out. One of my friends correctly identified it - it was like being at a frat party - the entire sidewalk on Stroget was sticky from spilled beer! The city was a giant Danish frat party - but much less sketchy and infinitely more cultured.

In the morning we woke up, made some pancakes (American style, not the thin, crepe-like Danish pancakes) and headed off to a canal boat tour. Walking around, I thought about how Copenhagen has become a part of me and how much I will miss this city.

Good thing I still have 2 months left! And tomorrow I am off on my 3 week travel break. The plan is Stockholm, Tallinn, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Durham, Nottingham, London, Prague! I am very excited, and will try to post during the break. Vi ses!

A little bit of culture shock

"Oh look they're singing the birthday song!" My host family pointed out to me as we're watching the evening news while eating dinner. I looked at the screen - and sure enough, there is a crowd of about 100 people all waving Danish flags and singing the birthday song (which has so many different verses and is infinitely more complex than the simple Happy Birthday to You that we sing). It turns out it was the TV station's 20th birthday, so the other news station, TV2 was singing to TV1! "How nice", I thought, that one station is spending so much of its time to congratulate the other station! When I mentioned that it was great how they were nice to each other, my host dad said "oh no no, they are actually very competitive with each other". Duh, how could I not see the intense competition through the singing? The Danes have come a long long way from their reputation as fierce warriors as Vikings.

One more observation: Danish people don't seem to sweat. It's an interesting phenomenon. I have gone on many runs here where I've encountered other runners: none of them seemed to sweat. Also from talking to people that go to gyms - it seems to be the case there as well. Danes just look impeccable no matter what they are doing. This past weekend I was somehow convinced to run 14 kilometers with my host dad and his friend, and definitely got my butt kicked. It was a great run and very beautiful, but I definitely have a long way to go if I want to be in good shape like these two 50 year old men. At the end of our run, I was the only one who seemed to be sweating or breathing the way normal people do after a tough workout.

After the run, they always reward themselves with a beer. This seemed fine to me and I didn't think much of it - until we were drinking the beer in the car as we were driving home! Have they not heard of "don't drink and drive"? As I awkwardly asked my host dad "so....should you really be drinking that beer while driving and are you aware that my life is in your hands?", he just seemed surprised that this was even a concern. We started to talk about the laws here versus in the U.S. and in Denmark, you can drive if you have one drink. This seems okay, .08 whatever, but it was pretty crazy to me that you can drink your one drink while you are driving. Don't worry mom and dad - it was fine and safe, it is amazing though how different their attitudes are here. They were so amazed that you cannot have an open bottle of alcohol in the car with you even if you are not even touching it. There are not open container laws here at all. As for driving, I think it's a great idea that in Denmark you are allowed to drink before you get your driver's license. Learn your limits, then learn to drive! Very smart.

Oh Denmark, you continue to amaze me in oh so many ways!