A taste of Scandinavia

I went to Denmark not really knowing what to expect. I had that luxury, of course because I was staying with Corey, so no prior research or planning was necessary on my part, which was nice.

Corey was right there when Ryan and I got off the plane Friday afternoon. Now, though Denmark may be less culturally different to the United States than the Czech Republic is, Corey’s abroad experience is completely different than mine. He signed up for a “mentor” to aid him with his transition, but other than that, he’s basically on his own. No CEA to buy his public transportation passes for him or tell him where to go and what to see, like they do for us. That, and there really aren’t that many American students in Copenhagen. There are international, English-speaking kids there, but the majority of Corey’s friends are from Canada and Australia. He lives in a studio apartment in the northern “slums” (I use that term lightly) of the city, so he was forced to meet people. It takes a certain kind of person to be able to do that, and Corey has obviously succeeded in doing so. A bit different from my situation, where there are a couple dozen kids from Madison just in my building. It is what it is.

We didn’t do much Friday afternoon, thanks to the weather (rain) and the Middle Eastern restaurant owners who apparently were unaware of the term “service.” Middle Eastern kabab, shawarma shops are all over Europe, by the way, but Copenhagen is the hub, for some unknown reason. Anyway, we waited 45 minutes for them to shave chicken off the spick and put it into a wrap. Granted, the place was busy, but the only reason it didn’t take over an hour was because a Moroccan guy sitting next to us started shouting in Arabic to the guys behind the counter to give us our food. (Apparently he’s a big Obama fan?) People started getting up from their tables to calm him down and I thought I was going to get shot within my first 90 minutes in Denmark. Not really, but it was pretty intense for about a minute.

Friday night it was raining but we went to this small club where this well-known Danish DJ was spinning crazy house music. Never knew Danes loved to rage so much. They do. I also didn’t know how expensive Denmark is. It’s not on the euro; they use Danish kroner, which is about 5.5 kroner to one dollar. Corey told me that minimum wage is something around 85 kroner (do the math… $17). Hard to believe, but after seeing the prices of things all weekend, it makes sense. Needless to say, we ate a lot of shawarma and not a lot (zero) of seafood along the canal.

Saturday the three of us went to Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park Corey had yet to go to. It was fun; we acted like 12 year olds for a few hours, eating crap and going on rides. Tivoli had a couple rides worth paying for, so it was a day well-spent.

Saturday night we went to a different club, which was awesome. Again, lots of house music (standard for European clubs), with some techno and my generation rap mixed in. One of the more fun nights of the semester, to be honest.

Sunday (the only day I took my camera out) we took a boat tour of the canals, which was the highlight of the trip. Copenhagen isn’t as canal-oriented as Amsterdam, but the city has enough to make a worthwhile canal tour. The canals empty out into the North Sea, facing Sweden. We could have taken a 30-minute train to Sweden, but Corey said it wasn’t worth it. So I saw Sweden instead of stepping foot on it.

The coolest part of Copenhagen is this strip (I forget the name of it, and Google isn’t helping) along the canal. It’s lined with restaurants and multi-colored buildings. Looks amazing in the sun with all the sailboats docked along the sides (see the pictures on the left). In that same area, there was an International food festival going on, so that was convenient for lunch. We basked in the sun for a bit after that, enjoying our last afternoon in Scandinavia.

Sunday night we went to Christiania, which is a part of Copenhagen not recognized by the government or the EU. Corey doesn’t completely understand it, so obviously I don’t either, but you can’t take pictures there and it’s a little sketchy. There’s a lot of weirdos there and a fair amount of open drug use. But it isn’t a dangerous place, just a little different. There was a live jazz band playing there, so we hung out there, keeping it low key on our last night. When you leave, you walk under a wooden sign that welcomes you back to the EU. Strange, but interesting.

Monday Ryan and I got up at 8:15 to catch our 10:30 flight. Corey, who was an incredible host, by the way, sent us off and that was that. My next traveling will be done in the direction of 20 Cider Mill Rd.

Oh, also, the Danish girls are as good-looking as advertised.

Thanks, Corey for a great weekend. Fifteen days left in Prague, well Europe, for that matter. Glad I’m not traveling anymore. I need to enjoy Prague before I leave. I’ve got a lot of work to do for school, but I should find some time for fun. Tomorrow night is our going away banquet for CEA. They say time flies when you’re having fun. They’re right.