Week one’s travel plans may have fell through, and what at first seemed like a jail sentence of “oh man, I’m stuck in Copenhagen for a week with nothing to do,” quickly turned into, “OH MAN, I’m stuck in Copenhagen for a week with nothing I need to do!”
So to start it off, after studio ended on Friday “us girls” headed out towards Nørreport to head home, spruce up a bit, get some food, and head back into the city for the DIS “midterm party.” This party was held at Søpavillonen on the water, it was gorgeous, and DIS was buying drinks.
They announced the winners from the AD design competition, so a bunch of “us” were there, but for the most part people had already left to start travel break. So the crowd was not huge, but we still managed to have fun dancing and with karaoke.
Some people were a wee bit grumpy about dancing. Oh, and did I mention that it was pouring outside and we were walking? Pretty rough haha. Saturday overall was a day of recovery, cleaning, housekeeping, etc. I went into the city and hung out at the computer lab, and then spent dinner with Haley and Holly and went on a dessert quest. Then it was back to Holly’s kollegium to pass out early.
Sunday was Danielle’s pre-birthday. After sleeping in, dealing with daylight savings issues, and going home to shower and switch shirts, it was back into CPH to head out to Ørestad and see Field’s mall, BIG’s VM Mountain, and other nerdy architecture things. Then we hit up Christiania, which I will have to explain separately in some other post. I imagine it would be Vermont if it seceded from the rest of the US. For Danielle’s pre-birthday dinner, we went to a fabulous Indian restaurant and I had some delicious masala and naan (which I had been craving). It was a Sunday and not much was open / happening, so we called it an early night.
Danielle was being super indecisive and distracted on her actual birthday, so I was trying to take matters into my own hands. I sent her multiple messages throughout the morning, went for a long run, showered, watched a movie—and still I hadn’t heard from her. So finally I just called her and told her that my family was having dinner for her and she was expected to show up between 6:30 and 7. This was partly true, my family was going to host her for dinner, but we were also going to invite some of our friends who remained in Copenhagen, and we would be going out after to celebrate.
I started making some phone calls, threw together a grocery list, Josefine and I went grocery shopping, I went to work on making chicken parmesan, Josefine started on the amazing birthday cake, and Cecilie made potatoes. Holly came over around 5 with ice cream and vodka (necessary for any good birthday) and helped set the masterful table. Marcel and Edward joined us for dinner (sort of on time haha) and everything was awesome.
After delicious dinner and dessert, we went back into Copenhagen together and went out. This was the closest to a true “Danish drinking night” that I have had yet. We strategically ate a late dinner, so by the time we got into CPH it was a little past midnight. We started off at our go-to bar, Floss, and picked up Samer and his friend. Then we went to Byens Kro to have tasty raspberry vodka drinks, where we were joined by Marcel, Aaron, and Reese (the Cal-Poly trio). We spent awhile in this bar just talking, and some nice-ish older man bough Danielle flowers for her birthday. I apparently ended up with one the next morning haha. After Kro, the Cal-Poly boys, the birthday girl, and I went to the Cosy Bar, a fabulous little gay bar where we did nothing but drink and dance like idiots. More than once I tried to pick up guys AND girls to dance with, and no one was having it hahaha but it was a ton of fun. Around 6am we left, not quite the full awake-till-the-bar-closes-and-get-breakfast Danish experience, but a full morning of sleep left us more than prepared to go to an awesome little diner-esque brunch place near DIS.
After fueling up, Holly and I took our bikes to King’s Garden to walk around and enjoy the sun. The birthday girl eventually joined us, and then I left to head home to have dinner with my family and one of Pernille’s friends and her daughter.
The next day was full of activities: Marcel and I went to the Danish Architecture Center which was actually really fascinating for me because the exhibit had a lot to do with responding to the needs of culture and society. Then Holly met up with us and we biked to the Danish Design Center, and we went and got delicious sandwiches and sat by the waterfront.
Later that evening Holly and I went on a mini Copenhagen Brewery tour. First stop was Nørrebro Bryghus in, you guessed it, Nørrebro. Edward joined us where we got twelve 10ml samples, and boy were they great. We all tried all the different beers, and then thanks to my charm and wit I’m sure, Holly and I got a personal tour of the brewery by the American brew apprentice.
Next stop was the Bryggeriet Apollo right by Tivoli, where we again each got a sampler of the house beers. After that closed, we met up with our new American friend and went to the Brewpub right on Vestergade by DIS and we each ordered a beer and enjoyed it.
I won’t bore you too much with my analysis of Danish beers, but suffice it to say they don’t beat my Vermont beers, but they have a place in their own right. And of course I love the microbrews the most.
The next day Holly and I went to Sweden with my host family. Our first stop was in Lund where we saw this fantastic church. It was a university town, and quite frankly I would have been more than happy to have spent the rest of my day there.
Next stop was the famous “Twisting Torso” in Malmö, where we got to do a quick analysis of the building and walk by the waterfront (even though it was incredibly windy and cold).
Then we actually went into Malmö, did a little wandering and shopping, and mostly hunted giant Easter eggs before returning home to Copenhagen to relax before rushing around the next morning to get ready for our family Easter “linner.”
Two of Pernille’s friends, Marcel, Holly, Grandpa, the girls and I were all doing a potluck style Easter late-lunch at our house, and we were all preparing food that was “native” to our country.
We had the US, Denmark, Greenland, the UK, and Mexico (sorta) represented. I also got to try Danish “Snaps” (can’t figure out if they are the same as Schnapps) but needless to say, still tastes like alcohol. I think the purpose of Easter for Danes is strictly to get drunk, which I totally enjoyed, because all through dinner we just kept saying “skål” and drinking more.
My adventures on Saturday were really just the best way to end the week in Copenhagen. I packed our Easter leftovers up for a picnic in Frederiksberg park, where Holly, Marcel, Edward, Samer and I sat out in the sun on our blankets, ate food, and drank wine.
Being true Danes we of course all had our bicycles. When were were sufficiently satisfied with our lunch, we went to the zoo (which is actually sort of nestled in the park).
Aaron met up with us at the zoo, and Samer had the fantastic idea of renting a children’s wagon, which we all put our bags in and proceeded to get rides in throughout our zooventure.
We saw all sorts of amazing animals (I mean, after all, it was a zoo) but I felt like a little kid again getting excited at everything from the little baby monkeys to the giant hippo the flung poo at us (seems like it should have been the monkeys, huh?)
I had to take a picture of the tarantula for Dad, because he knows what a fan I am of spiders….
Overall, we just spent the day being goofballs and having fun “feeling young” again. We stayed in the zoo till it closed, and still hadn’t managed to see everything. After a long day we went to Halifax and enjoyed enormous delicious hamburgers together before I had to run home and pack for my week in the French Alps.
Overall, the first week of spring break was a blast, and I am so glad that I got to spend it really enjoying Copenhagen. Sur la France!
