in copenhagen

We ended up not going to Christiana cos apparently everything there is closed on Mondays.. There were 8 of us in the end, Tanikie, Heather, Nicole and myself, as well as Lauren, who lives across the hall from Tanikie, and her friend Leslie who lives at Holger Danskes Vej and decided to come visit, and Nicole's neighbour Geoffrey whom we met last night while raiding rooms, as well as his friend on the first floor Tom.

So we decided to go to this Thai restaurant near Frederiksberg station which is really close to CBS called The Green Papaya. Their food was really yummy and tasty but not too salty, lots of great flavours and stuff. We initially ordered stuff for ourselves but ended up passing our plates around so we got a taste of everything. It was really fun!

It was like 10pm after dinner, so Tanikie, Heather and Nicole decided to head back cos they have class at like 8.55am, and the rest of us went to Kongens Nytorv to watch the rest of the Ukraine-Switzerland match. We met a few of the Austrian guys from class at the bar, but they left soon after we got there. We thought the game would end at like 1045 cos by the time we got there it was already 1030 and at 88 minutes, but it went into 2 extra times, and by the goal-kicks it got reaaaaaally exciting.. Haha. That was fun.. Then the others decided to keep going but Tom and I were like dying so we headed back to Svanevej.

When I was going into my door I met Jason from a couple doors down and he was leaving his room to go downstairs to one of the other rooms and he asked me to go along, so I did, and it was great I met more new people, Renee, Priya, Rich and Chris (whom I actually met before but didn't recognise today), all from Penn State. They were drinking beers and playing Kings, and I got roped in to play too. It was really quite fun and I had such a good time with them even though usually I have this thing against Americans but those I've met on the trip so far are really cool and they don't look down on us at all.. We stayed in Rich's room til like 2.30am, Jason and I were so tired but I think I had a bit too much to drink cos I would sit down immediately after standing up so he had to help me up the stairs.. Luckily we stay on the same floor so that was great..

I had such a good time today, class was fun, and the company after class was fantastic.. Well tomorrow is the walking tour from 6-8pm, and then the France-Spain match, I'm supposed to meet Veronique and the others at Tivoli at 8.30 so that should leave plenty of time.. I need to go get France colours though, cos I'll definitely be supporting them! And tomorrow is my first Danish lesson! Soon I'll be able to pronounce things like Norrebro and Frederiksberg and Solbjerg properly..

Today was the first day of class and there are like a billion Austrians in the intercultural class.. I think they make up more than half the class.. But it was interesting talking to them and I found out there are 3 of them living in the same residence as me, one of whom is really reaaaaaally cute. The class was good cos we spent a lot of time talking about the different cultures especially Danish and Austrian (cos there were so many), but there were also people from Iceland, Germany, Australia, China.. So it's quite a nice mix, and the cute German guy (or so I thought) is in my class and he's actually Austrian.. The room was too big I think so it felt a bit impersonal, like we couldn't really see who was talking and stuff. Well it's time to go out for dinner with the girls in my residence, that should be pretty fun, we're going for Thai food in Christiana!

Also, I have wingwomen now! It's Liz, Emma and Tanya, and we're gonna help each other keep an eye out for and talk to cute guys.. That's totally cool cos there are so so many cute guys here!!!!

It's my first Sunday in Copenhagen, and being friendless again, I had nothing to do, so I decided to go for a walk on my own. I planned everything, like where to go, which station to stop at, which roads to turn into.. But I still managed to get lost.


The blue line is the route I took. The green line is the one I was SUPPOSED to take..

It was my first time taking the metro, but that was pretty easy, I had to take the S-tog train to Flintholm from Norrebro, then change to the metro to Norreport. It wasn't like France having to search for the station, just a matter of going up and down the stairs.

Anyway, I took a huge circle and ended up walking from Norreport station to Amalienborg Slot, the Queen's castle.


Just a small part of the castle.. And apparently this isn't the only one

I didn't go in, but there was a very nice fountain with kids splashing around in it. I think it's like a Danish kids thing cos all the parents were bringing them to play and they were running around in their underwear.


Kids splashing around and having a good time

After watching them for a while I went to stick my legs in and it was freezing! But I got used to it after a while, and stayed there for about an hour. By the time I got out I couldn't feel my feet and they didn't want to move.


Feet in the fountain.. There was a weird woman who came by and DRANK the water though she could see people with their feet in it! Then she made a face like, this water tastes funny and I was so ready to laugh at her.. She's giving a bad name to tourists everywhere!

But after taking a long long long route to I have no idea where, making lots of detours as usual, I bumped into the statue of the Little Mermaid!


There's the Little Mermaid on her rock..

That was quite interesting cos I never expected to see her and suddenly there was this crowd of people and I recognised the statue. That was quite funny.

It was pretty late by then, so I gave up finding places to go and went to Kongens Nytorv, which is a great touristy street with a canal and lots of cafes and people just hanging out by the canal. There are lots of tourist canal boats, and little sailboats, and the buildings were all very colourful.


People and boats resting by the canal


Street musicians along the canal, colourful cafes and lots of people


Close-up view of the street musicians or.. ? Hint: Spot the cute Danish guy..

There are lots of people, maybe they're Vietnamese, who go around collecting bottles and cans and going to get the deposit back from the supermarket. That's how they earn their living, and that's quite sad but I wonder how the government allows it cos they will hover around people until they finish their drinks. I sat there for a long time too, the weather was really great but now I have a weird tan cos I was wearing a polo tshirt with sleeves.

Then when I was wondering what time I should leave, Veronique walked by with some of her friends (Charlotte, Joachim and Camille from France, and Tim and Miles from the US) and they very kindly invited me to join them and hang out together. It was really fun and they were nice, and the French people were speaking in French and I could understand some of it I was so excited. It's so great here cos when you know one person you also get to meet the people they know and so on and you just get to know more and more people.. I love the way that works..

After that we were hungry so they invited me to go back to one of the residences nearby, Tordenskjoldsgade, near the Kongens Nytorv station which is right in the centre of town, and we cooked pasta and drank beer and had a great time talking..


Miles, Veronique and Camille, with the pasta

It was so fun to meet new people, and they're all so friendly. So the day ended off pretty well, we only left the place at 11pm. But though it was so late there weren't any weird people yelling strange things at us, so it felt pretty safe. Though on the S-tog there was this guy who came in and he started drinking beer. Luckily the next stop was mine..


Waiting to take the S-tog back at the Flintholm station. Red is the S-tog and the one above is the metro

When I got back I met Tanikie and Nicole (Jamaica/UK and US, who live in my residence and helped me not go to school alone on Saturday, with another girl Heather) going to raid some empty rooms, so I went to go find out what was happening and we ended up talking for a bit, then we met this guy Geoffrey who lives in the same building, and another guy on my floor, Jason. So things are getting better, being out alone isn't that bad, I can do whatever I want, get lost if I have to and just wander around anywhere.. It's great.. Tomorrow is the first day of class and I'm scared! The lecture slides look intimidating and so does the reading, which I just skimmed through cos I'm so tired but I'm afraid she's gonna ask us about it. Well, I'll worry about it tomorrow, I just need to sleep right now..

I arrived in Copenhagen yesterday from Oulu and the flight felt like a thousand years.. The gate at Copenhagen was really far away from the baggage claim so I had to walk for miles before I got there, but my bag came out pretty quickly so I didn't have to wait that long. What I did have to wait for was the summer school people, who were supposed to meet us at the gate.. I waited and walked around looking for them and waited some more, then suddenly this girl Line came up to me and asked me if I was there for the CBS programme. How she managed to find me I don't know, but apparently I missed them when I was walking out. Hmm..

She brought me to the Hilton hotel to wait for the bus, and I met some nice people there, Liz from Seattle, Emma from South Africa, Alex from the US and some guy from Mexico but I forgot his name (added 26 June: it's Rene! or something). It was fun but I got to take the earlier bus so I didn't stay on with them and I wish I had cos I didn't know anyone at my residence.. Though I met a French girl called Veronique on the bus.. So I ended up spending the entire time holed up in my room, ate instant noodles for dinner (thank goodness I brought some!) and decided to go take a walk.. But it was 9pm by then so everything was closed.

Today I woke up a bit earlier to go to the supermarket, everything was in Danish but some of the words were similar and also things more or less look the same so it doesn't matter even if I can't understand the words.. Later we have this talk in the school so I need to leave the room a bit earlier to buy the train/bus card.

The area I'm staying in is very near the supermarket and the train station, and there are lots of immigrant families around. When I went out last night there were lots of teens hanging around it was a little scary but they didn't bother me so it wasn't like in France.. There are no lifts at the residence, so carrying bags up and down is a bit of a problem. I couldn't carry mine up yesterday luckily there was a Danish guy who came to show us how to get in and stuff and he helped me with my luggages. I wonder how I'm going to get them down at the end of the trip..

Well this is my room..


It's time to leave for the school now, hope everything goes well and that I don't get lost..