well everyone, I am officially back in Seattle.
I can't believe it came to an end. I really had such an amazing time living in Copenhagen that it went WAY too fast! It was a rocky start in the beginning...wondering what I was thinking taking 3 months to live in a foreign country, knowing that my boyfriend will barely have time to say hello to me everyday. But it of course turned out to be one of the best times in my life. So many good times, good friends, and some good food. Of cousre, now I am terribly broke, and starting a job search in one of the toughest economies in my lifetime...yay! Yes, I know it has been a very long time since I last posted. I blame it on the fact that Cory finally got time off work, so I wanted to make sure I spent as much time making it fun and worthwhile since I was leaving relatively soon. I last left you right before Christmas. I guess now I should let you know how that went? Christmas was FANTASTIC! I think it is one for the books...We celebrated with our good friend Chris and his Family who lives just outside the city. We wanted to experience a traditional Danish Christmas here, and Chris and the Carlsens' were SO inviting and warm! We spent Christmas Eve and Day with them, and stayed in their guest room. The traditional celebration is on Christmas Eve, a large feast is prepared, usually with Duck or Pork...in our case we got BOTH! (Chris' mom couldn't decide which we should get) The whole family was so inviting to us. Chris has one brother and one half brother. They brought their girlfriends and we all sat down to enjoy a lovely meal. The pork is what I may have mentioned in earlier posts...Flaeskesteg. SO delicious...other things included in the meal were boiled potatoes, pickled cabbage, and gravy...and I was a full, and happy camper. Lots of drinking is in order during Christmas too apparently in Denmark. Beer...Wine...Schnapps...whatever. We had it all...and a lot of it. Skole! :) After a short break in dinner, we had dessert. Chris' mother made Rice Pudding with Almonds. The trick to it was...in tradition...there was a WHOLE almond in the pudding that if you found it in your serving, you would get a gift! Well...needless to say, a lot of pudding was consumed in my part to find that whole almond. To my surprise, I was passed the whole almont under the table by Cory who was given the almond by someone else at the table. I ended up getting a box of Danish Chocolates. Super delicious. After Dessert...we opend gifts, and sang Danish carols while dancing around the christmas tree holding hands. The last song was an upbeat song and one member of the family tears off with people in tow all around the house, up and downstairs singing loudly and we end up back at the tree. AND...then more drinking. We were up with the Family til 4am! I had to hit the sack cause I am a newbie to staying up that late...but the rest of the family were up til about 5am!!! Impressive. The next morning we woke up to have Christmas Lunch. Traditional Smorrebrod. Open faced sandwichs with little toppings to add. I actually enjoyed the Herring that we had. And the laks were DELICIOUS. I am hoping for a recipe from Chris' dad for the Herring he made. I feel I should take back some of this tradition to my family. More drinking was consumed...schnapps...more more schnapps. I couldn't get too drunk cause I was already tired and hungover from the night before. Thank you to the Carlsens' for a lovely Danish Christmas! Cory got me some brown ankle boots that lace up. I LOVE them and I have already worn them back in Seattle *it was too cold in Copenhagen to wear them. I got Cory Leather gloves from Filippa K, and a denim/chambre tie from Magasin. Merry Christmas to all! Before Christmas, Cory and I went to our own special dinner at Pate Pate. Hands down...THE best food I have ever had. It's in the Meat Packing district...hence the name. I ordered lamb ( i think...it's been a while) and Cory ordered Flaeskesteg. Dinner=Fabulous...mouthwatering! We then decided to hell with it...let's get dessert. We ordered a meringue ish thing with cream and berries....I DIED!!! SO good! haha, we were talking for days after that meal. ATTN: ANYONE GOING TO COPENHAGEN, EAT AT PATE PATE By the 28th of December, Shawn and Darrick showed up and it was go go go. So much fun...It was a great last 2 weeks for me being with two great friends and Cory all to myself! :) such a happy lucky girl. The 9th came too soon...and now I have left my love in Copenhagen one last time, I will see him on Feb. 14th (yes, Valentine's day haha) and I can't wait to see what comes! To all my friends I've met from Seattle while in CPH, thank you for putting up with me and providing me with people to hang out with while Cory is working. To the friends I have met in CPH from ALL over the world...I will miss you and I've had a great time...COME VISIT anytime :) Enjoy some of the last photos I have taken...
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Hey all!
So sorry it's been so long since I last posted...to be honest, not a whole lot interesting besides me wandering and window shopping for christmas gifts has been going on. Cory is finally back to a regular-ish schedule, goes to work at 10am and comes home between 8-9pm. I've been really enjoying the free time we finally have together! We even got a three day weekend! I will start from the beginning...Cory finished his competition hours on Monday night, so we had Tuesday to hang out. But most was spent sleeping. Then he went back to work Wednesday-Friday...but normal hours! Thursday we went to see a Danish rock/garage-ish band called the Raveonettes. Fronted by a blonde Danish girl and a guy who looks like a young Bob Dylan. The show was GREAT! A really good opening band called Giana Factory, Danish as well, and just three beautiful danish girls too! haha. They were more electro-synth...inspiration maybe from Portishead or something. The Raveonettes played half acoustic and half electric. I don't really know their songs much, but Cory is really into them...so I didn't recognize any of the songs, but I highly enjoyed the show. I would recommend people to check them out. Onward to Friday, we got a message from friends that we met when we were in Stockholm who were in town for the weekend to shop in CPH. We went out to dinner and drinks with them. Dinner was fantastic!!! We went to a Vietnamese Restaurant called Le Le ...something something...long name. But it was super delicious, I ordered the Spare Ribs, and got a huge Mojito ish drink for a total of 250dk...which is about $45us. But that is actually pretty average price for a restaurant, there is definitely plenty worse out there! We then decided to head over to the Meat Packing District which was just down the street. We started at a bar called Jolene, and then made our way to Master and Apprentice, where we stayed til almost 2am. We caught a table at the last bar which was nice, and the music was perfect! The DJ was super into his music, they were all on 45's and had a Doo-Wop feeling like from the 40's-50's and mostly Women were singing. The DJ was singing along to the music too it was fun to watch him get into it. We sure enjoyed it. Sunday, Cory and I had been waiting and waiting to get some time to go out to the Louisiana Museum of Art. It's about a 30-45min train ride out to the museum, and it's right on the Coast of Denmark with Sweden just across the way. We made it out there by 2:30pm and Cory's work friend Ji came with us. We were blown away by the site. It was so huge and beautiful, right on the water, the museum itself is very mid-century modern with the original museum looking like a Southern Manse. It looks small from the outside, but it's actually quite large, and much of it is housed underground or partially underground. The exhibitions currently were Anselm Keifer, a German artist, really great powerful pieces, HUGE scale. The other artist was Walton Ford, who I thought was my favorite. He depicted animals in HUGE watercolored paintings (life-size) Each painting told a story about how a human encountered an animal, and they are based off real stories the artist finds in books or journals. The detail in the paintings was amazing, and it didn't look like watercolor either! The museums permanent collection is great as well, some Andy Warhol, Pop Art, etc. We stayed til sunset, (about 4:15pm) and got a sandwich and ate in their beautiful cafe overlooking Oresund (the sound). Their gift shop was quite amazing as well, huge, lots of good danish designs, and art books. It was tempting to stay for hours, but it was dark and cold, and we had to catch a train. So now we are nearing another weekend. Plans are to go to the going away party for Ji (He is going back to Korea for christmas, then back to Yale for school) at the VM houses (BIG designed them) in Orestad tonight. Tomorrow I plan to go shopping at the Christiania Christmas Market (i walked briefly through it the other day but didn't stay long) and shop on Elmegade, one of THE best shopping areas in Copenhagen, it's in Norrebro a couple blocks from Cory's work. Our roommate Natalie leaves for Seattle Sunday and won't be back until February (She is continuing on to Australia for two months to study) So we will have the place to ourselves for the rest of the trip! We can't wait to have Cory's brother Shawn and our good friend Darrick come over on the 27th for a while. I am super excited to have good friends here, and Cory will be free from work for the break, it will be good times. A reunion of sorts from our Europe trip two summers ago! Both Shawn and Darrick spent a good amount of time here previously (Study Abroad with Cory in 2008). So we won't need to be too much of a tourist while they are here. I will update soon! I promise...who knows with what...but something! Miss you all so very much! Happy Holidays So this week, it started to snow a lot!!! It's a beautiful city when it is covered in snow! I was starting to think something was wrong when Seattle was hit with a snow storm right before Thanksgiving, but have no fear...It started snowing two days after the storm in Seattle!!! And really it hasn't stopped snowing since! We have accumulated quite a bit, and it's been in the low 30's upper 20's for a week now! But today it's starting to get too cold to snow a lot, and getting a bit icy out there...haven't seen to many accidents cause it's all flat here, but it's making biking around a little difficult...i've attempted it once and slipped in the snow a couple times on a back road, but I wasn't the only one attempting the biking in snow! Surprisingly, it doesn't keep many people off their bikes, and also they clear the bike paths before they clear the roads! ha! People in Seattle would go crazy if that happened! :)
So yesterday I went to Nyhavn to check out one of the numerous Christmas Markets that pop up around the city for the next month. They display and sell lots of holiday things and warm hats, christmas decorations, and most importantly...Glogg. It's a warm wine infused with fruit and nuts...delicious for a cold day or night. Cory had a few minutes before he had to take off for work and we grabbed a cup at the market and enjoyed the bustle of the very important First Day of Advent in Copenhagen, which was Sunday. Lots of shoppers, Lighting of the main Christmas Tree in Radhus Pladsen, and even a Santa Parade...we caught the end of that. After Cory took off for work, I walked my way to the Glyptotek because I knew it was Free on Sundays, and a nice warm escape from the bitter cold streets. At the Glyptotek, is displays of French Impressionists including Gaugin, Monet, and others. It was fabulous to see some of the great pieces I've learned about years ago when I took an Art History 101 course in college. The Glyptotek also has some ancient mediterranean and Roman art plus some Danish 19th cent. Art. There is a giant domed Courtyard in the center with lots of tropical plants and quite nice on a cold day. Today, I had some time, and the skys were clearing a bit for the first time in a week so I gathered myself up to the Round Tower near the city center. It's a 17th Century Church, Observatory, and Library with an Observatory deck at the top. A cheap (25 dk) and easy hike up a tower with spiral sloping brick climb to the top. I made it to the top, took many photos and could see all the way to Malmo!!! It was beautiful to see the rooftops of all the buildings in the city covered in snow, and you could see every spire, church, etc for miles and miles! Such a great way to spend a few minutes in peace. It was EXTREMELY windy and COOOOLD! haha, I was like a couple hundred feet up so all the wind was whipping around the tower, and I could only stand to be out there a few minutes. Well worth the trip! :) I am starting to get into the Holiday Spirit, going to buy a little tree for the apartment and get some decorations, and Natalie my roomie taught me how to make this Danish origami like stars out of paper and I'm obsessed now, I made 4 last night, and plan on making lots more and bringing them home to share with Family and Friends! I miss you all very much during the holidays...it's hard to not be with family, but I hope to keep some traditions and hopefully bring home some goodies for my friends and family from this wonderful Scandinavian city...Oh if I was a millionaire in CPH...I would be buying so many things! My favorite place to walk into on a regular basis is Illums Bolighus...too much good stuff :) So Cory and I FINALLY got to Stockholm after going back and forth between being able to go and not able. We had been looking into going to Stockholm the 19-21 for a couple weeks now because my friend Lauren's boyfriend Niklas (who is Swedish and lives a few hours away from Stockholm) happened to be in Stockholm that weekend and wanted to know if we were interested in meeting up there, since it is only an hour flight from CPH. We initially thought it would work out perfect with Cory's work schedule, since his competition had a deadline the day before and weren't allowed to work until they get the results back. But then the week before, Cory came home and said it wouldn't work out cause his Boss was wanting to work on a model during that weekend. BOO.
BUT! Three days before the 19th, Cory sent me a text message from work that said "Start looking for flights!" So I did! He ended not having to work, so in a very last minute fashion, we booked a flight and...wait for it...a boat hotel! haha...and flew out Friday night after Cory finished work! So we intended on meeting up with Niklas at our Hotel which was a short walk from his friends house that he was staying at. We were a little delayed cause the flight was late by 10 min and it took us a while to figure out how to get to the metro station from the train station. We finally made it by 930pm, when we were supposed to meet Niklas at 9pm! I felt bad, but there is an interesting Bar on the topside of the Boat that they were enjoying some beers waiting! So that night, Niklas took us out to his friends apartment up the hill from us, and then we made it out to a bar/club with a bunch of his friends...it seemed like a super-hipster place, course I have noticed that everyone in Scandinavia seems to be super-hipsters?! We stayed out for quite a while, and I think Cory and I realized we hadn't eaten dinner yet (not since 6pm at a hot dog stand) and left the boys partying at 3am from the bar and made a long walk back to our Boat! haha, I love saying that. Anyway, on our way back, hunger pains set in as well as drunk hunger, so we detoured up the big hill and found a main road and found a Kebab place. IT was AMAZING! HUGE kebab pitas, like the biggest i've seen! And not to mention, Delicious, Cory and I agreed that it was the best we have had since being here (Cory has been to some other good ones on different trips) I think it took us a good 45 min to eat them, but somehow we finished the whole thing (which i will say, probably wouldn't have happened if I didn't have a great buzz going). Did I mention it had been snowing in Stockholm this whole time? Yes, it was snowing, and beautiful to be in the city while it was. When we left the bar it had already accumulated a couple inches and by the time we made it back to the Boat it was about 3 inches! I loved how peaceful and quiet everything gets when it's snowing, Cory and I enjoyed the long walk home. The next morning, Cory and I set out to find ACNE jeans! haha. We had been planning on going to the Flagship store for ACNE since the beginning of the trip. I wanted a new pair of Black skinnies, and Cory wanted a good pair of Raw denim. We walked through Gamla Stan, the Old Town of Stockholm on a small island between the two main larger ones. The streets are tiny, windy, and crooked. The buildings almost seem to touch from across the street at certain points! So quaint, and OLD! haha. so we enjoyed breakfast and coffee there and made our way to the shopping area. We found ACNE right away, and went straight to the denim area. Cory found his pair right away, and bought his there...me on the other hand, the one's I really wanted were not available in my size. :( But they called to the other store that is two blocks away (haha i know) and they had it in my size. So we headed to the other shop and I tried them on, and VOILA! I own a pair of ACNE Jeans! :) After our shopping spree, we walked back over to Sodermalm, the neighborhood we are staying, and tried to find this kiosk stand that was written about in the lonely planet book, that served reindeer meat with mashed potatoes and lingenberry. But we couldn't find it. We ended up settling on some Herring and mashed potatoes with cole slaw and pickles. It was actually really delicious considering it was pretty fishy. We then walked to a shopping area in Sodermalm up above the cliffside that is along the water. We enjoyed meandering there, and ended up getting coffee before we needed to meet up with Niklas at the Boat again. Tonight, the plan was going to dinner with Niklas and his friends at a Tapas restaurant. It was all arranged by his friends, so we were along for the ride. It was actually quite delicious, and cory and I split 3 tapas. The best we had to admit was the Bacon wrapped Dates with Cheese in the middle. Fantastic! From dinner, we walked to Gamla Stan to this apparent Dungeon/Medieval bar in a basement. We made it, but there was too many people there, and no room to sit. We walked through, admired the crazy barrel vaults and dungeony feeling, and went to another bar/concert venue down the road and stayed there all night. We were there til probably 1:30 and Cory and I left the boys, said thank you for the wonderful time and told them to visit us in Copenhagen soon! We were becoming tired and hungry again. We stopped at a hot dog stand in front of the bar, and then walked back to the Boat. On our last day in Stockholm, we decided to check out "Museum Island" according to Cory, but I think it just happens to be an island in the city that has a ton of museums. We were planning on going to the Modern Art Museum, but didn't like the exhibit that was on display and didn't want to pay the big admission so we just looked at the book store, and went back down to the Asian History Museum where they apparently had the Terra Cotta Army on display which Cory and I were totally sold for. We waited outside in a line for 15 minutes, it was cold. We finally made it inside and realized it was like 120SEK, which is like $40! We were definitely not paying that! So...another waste, we just decided to walk around more in the city and explore things. We walked and walked, stopped for coffee and carrot cake, and then ended up back on a really beautifully lit shopping street close to where ACNE was. It was so nice to see Christmas lights up and decorations, it was beautiful! I love Holidays, especially now that I'm in Europe, it's ultra heightened my senses to Decorations and Lights! After we were walking around, we decided maybe to see a movie while we were there. I had been nagging Cory for some time to see the Harry Potter movie, but he hasn't seen/read any of the books/movies. So I figured I would have to see it with someone else. We looked into that movie, as well as the Joaquin Phoenix I'm Still Here movie, but that was sold out. We decided to go for the HP movie. We had a couple hours to spare before it started and got some dinner and drinks. I basically retold the major points and themes in the last 6 books to help Cory understand what might be going on in this Movie. I must have done well, because after the movie, Cory seemed to not have any questions and actually enjoyed it. He said there were a few things he was confused about but he mostly got the main ideas going on. I loved it, it was of course slow in the middle, cause the book was slow too, after all, they were just camping for like months straight. So we headed back to the Boat after the movie and had to wake up early for our flight back to CPH. We got back around 1030am, and Cory went straight to work! All in all, it a fantastic city to explore, and cold too! haha. It was also great to see Niklas and his friends and see a Stockholm we may not have seen without locals! I enjoy traveling with locals, it makes you feel less touristy. Stockholm is a beautiful old city with lots of water, islands, and old churches. I would love to visit again for a longer period, and either when it's totally snowy or during their summer when it's a comfortable temperature! For now, back home in CPH. It's a great/strange feeling to come back to CPH and feel like home!? It was slighty sunny with a bit warmer temp. than Stockholm, and I was familiar with the city, and where I am...it's nice to know I can call CPH home! :) (I will post pictures when my computer isn't dying on my every minute) Hey everyone!
I have FINALLY moved into a real apartment! haha. I have been living in Fredericksburg the last month, and the neighborhood was great, super convenient and a fairly large bedroom, but we lived in a crazy apartment that was almost like a hostel. So needless to say I am WAY too excited to live in the new place. The apartment is in Christianshavn which is a beautiful old neighborhood built up on a tiny island just south of the city center. There are lots of canals, and beautiful streets of colorful buildings! We live to the SW of the island, right off a lake/canal that separates Christianshavn from Amager. A great running path goes along the lake that I might try out in the near future. Our place is a two bedroom apartment on the 4th floor. We have views of the water and a huge beautiful courtyard with lots of colorful buildings in it. We also have a balcony which makes sunny days quite enjoyable to sit and have a cup of coffee. I am also excited to have roommates that I can hang out with and a living room that I can sit and read in. The other place didn't have a living room, so this is a plus! We moved in on Saturday and so far it's just been me, Cory and Sarah who lives in the room we will eventually take over once she leaves this wednesday! Sarah and I made dinner together last night and it was DELICIOUS! We had Garlic roasted Chicken and veggies with some spinach on the side. We roasted a whole garlic and used it to spread over toasted baguette and put it with goat cheese, super tasty! I am getting used to cooking good meals! Well, Sarah and I are heading to Orestad today to check out a very new developing neighborhood with lots of interesting architecture going up that is to the SW of the city. I will leave you with some photos of our new lovely apartment! So this week, I went to Malmo on Monday with Sarah. Our mission was to find affordable Hunter Boots. We both were looking into the Original Hunter boots, I wanted black and she wanted red. She was also interested in the Ilsa Jakobsen Lace-up rain boots in a grey color. We left the Copenhagen Central train station at 1030am...Our trip would be a nice ride over the water to Malmo, and only 45 min. We took our bikes with us too just to navigate the city better. The ride across the bridge was beautiful, there was even a rainbow!
Upon arrival in Malmo, we attempted to figure out where we wanted to go to do our shopping. Sarah had been there before and kind of knew where to go. We found the shopping pretty easily and began window shopping and walking through the ped-only streets. We found many cute shops with great clothes, but hadn't seen the Hunter or Ilsa boots. Sarah thought she knew of a department store that had them for less than in Copenhagen. After walking around for about 2 hrs looking, we stopped for some lunch at a sandwich shop. I got a croque monsieur (french sandwich in sweden?!) and Sarah got a swedish meatball sandwich. Both were delicious. We set back out determined to find this department store. We eventually did about 30 min later. We went in and found the shoe department. They had Hunter boots, and in both our colors...problem was, they were way more expensive than we thought. The boots were priced to the equivalent of 185 US. Much more than some places I've seen in Copenhagen. We decided to pass and think about it. We then had to meet up with an old high school friend of Sarah's that happened to be living and going to school in Malmo for the past 2 years. We met at the library and had a cup of coffee and chatted for an hour. Afterwards, we really wanted to check out the new harbour area that has a bunch of new housing projects including the ridiculous "Twisting Torso" by Santiago Calatrava. It's WAY taller than any building in like a 50 mile radius, so it sticks out like a soar thumb, and apparently it's really expensive to live in the tower, though I'm sure you could get some good views. But we were more excited about the housing development going on around it. It's in Phase 2 right now, so phase 1 is built and mostly lived in. Great scale for housing, though it still feels a little out of the loop and not much around it for amenities besides restaurants. It's right on the ocean so great views are to be had from the housing that can see it. There is a really nice boardwalk/park along the water and we walked along that in the COLD and WINDY night. I think that was the coldest I have been since being here. It had to be below freezing, not to mention windy as hell since we were on the water. But the sunset was worth the torture! I got some good photos, but I would really like the explore the area in the daytime. Another trip I guess. So after freezing our butts off, we rode back to the train station and headed back to CPH. Tuesday rolled around, and I had been wanting to go see another CPH:DOX film, and Cory and I had discussed seeing the Nico/Velvet Underground one. I had also invited my friend Jenny to the film. Jenny and I met up for some Italian food at the restaurant below my apartment, and it was delicious! We then biked to a bar near the theatre called Bankerat. We waited here for Cory to meet us after he got off work, and Jenny started to get tired. By the time Cory met up with us, it was about 830pm. The movie started at 945pm. When Cory arrived, Jenny headed back home and decided to take an early night. Cory and I walked to the theatre and bought our tickets. Excited that Cory got off early that night, we were looking forward mostly to the Velvet Underground - Exploding Plastic Inevitable documentary, because we knew the Nico film would be weird. And boy was it...not a whole lot of dialogue, just the occasional emotional breakdown of Nico and some naked dude riding a pony through some harsh looking landscape. After that snooze fest, we waited the 10 min intermission between films, and the Velvet Underground was ready to go....BUT WAIT! the sound doesn't work! The guy up in the film room came out, said something in danish, and people started grumbling and getting out of their seats. Cory and I just looked at eachother and said to hell with it, we'll watch the 15 min documentary without sound. Which sucked because it was a documentary about a Band...and a concert they did with Andy Warhol. All in all....it was a total waste of 70 dk. We biked home and called it a night. Wednesday was our traditional Wednesday Dinner with all our friends we have here from the States, as well as some Danish friends. We have it at Sarah/Natalies apartment in Christianshavn. (Soon to be OUR apartment this Saturday!!!!) It was Sarah's last wednesday night dinner before she flies back home next week. We sent her off with a full belly of homemade tacos and chips and salsa and Natalie baked an amazing apple pie! Cory came to the dinner for the first time since my first week here! Although he had to go back to work afterwards for another couple hours. It will be sad to send off a buddy that I have been hanging out with a lot in my free time, but I'm sure she's ready to be home. I at least get to live with her for about 5 days before she takes off! We are moving out of our apartment here in Fredericksburg and into Natalie's apartment in Christianshavn. We will take over Sarah's room, which is very small, but it's worth the cramped room because the rest of the apartment is great! A little living room, a beautiful kitchen/dining room, and a great little balcony overlooking the courtyard. I can't wait to get out of this apartment/hostel. It has been pretty bad the last two weeks...new roommates coming and going, I don't really know any of them, and there is no common space for us besides the kitchen which doesn't feel welcoming. Saturday can't come any sooner! I will put a post up this weekend with pictures of the apartment! For now, here are some pictures of Malmo, and Wednesday dinner. Hey all!
So it's been a while since I've posted and I have been pretty occupied with things to do! I should have done a couple posts for all this, put I am just now getting to it while I'm hanging at the laundromat this lovely sunny Sunday! So I will start with the first thing I did this week. I went to the Copenhagen Zoo which is a bit up the road from where I am living in Fredericksburg. It is an AMAZING zoo for one...I was contemplating as to whether I wanted to spend the 110dk on the visit, but it was sunny and I didn't really have anything else to do. I am definitely glad I chose to go! What made the zoo so great was the types of animals they had there. Growing up in the Seattle area, I have made many trips to the Woodland Park Zoo, but the Copenhagen Zoo was better! Some very exotic and awesome animals were on display at the very large site! I will list a few that were quite interesting and never seen before. Rhinoceros, Hippos, Anteaters, Llamas (love those guys), Polar Bears, Tasmanian Devil, Camels, This cute little Panda related animal, These mini deer kind of guys, and Zebras! Of course they had the usual Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, etc. And they also seemed to think that Cows were worthy of being in a Zoo...haha. I definitely enjoyed my 2 hrs that I was walking around and loved sitting around a watching the animals do their thing. If anyone ever makes it out to Copenhagen, I would recommend seeing this zoo...worth the 110 dk. Onward to the next day, I decided to bike out to the Kastellet in the Northeast part of town between the City Center and Osterbro. The Kastellet is an old military fort that is built up and in the shape of a star (you can see it on a google map!) There was a nice walking trail that went around the fort along the star shaped path. I made my way all around it enjoying a cloudy/sunny Fall day. It's right off the Harbour that goes through CPH and you can see the industrial parts as well as the Wind Turbines in the Ocean. Once I made a round there, I realized I was a short walk to the Little Mermaid statue, but I knew the statue wouldn't be there because it is on display at the Shanghai Expo til end of November. (Yes, they shipped THE ACTUAL statue all the way to China) I did hear that there was an interesting installation in it's place by a Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei, with a live feed on an LED screen of the Mermaid at her post in Shanghai at the Danish Pavilion (Which by the way, was designed by BIG, the firm that Cory's working for and is really cool) So I biked to the site, and when I got there, the Live Feed wasn't working of course and the screen was black...so It was somewhat of a bummer to not see anything there. I will hopefully try to get over there when it is back in it's place in December. From here, I walked around some of the newer housing developments Just East of Osterbro, where the cruise ships dock here. Some nice new architecture, and enjoyed the walking. Then, it came to the weekend. Friday Night was a HUGE party night for many Danes because it was the premiere of the Christmas Beer that Carlsberg Brewery puts out by Tuborg. I hadn't really heard of this holiday until our Wednesday dinner when our Danish friend Marco told us about it, and what a big deal it is. So I decided to go out with my friend Jenny to see this crazy holiday with my own eyes. Coming upon the first bar we saw had LOTS of people at (meaning the Beers had been delivered) we joined the festivities. Lots of Happy Holiday faces, and these blinking santa hats by Tuborg. I wanted one of the hats, and it so happened that the delivery truck was still parked in front of the bar with the workers all dressed up and singing carols before they left to another bar to deliver beers. I asked one of the workers for a hat, and he gave me one, but apparently that was all I could get from him, and didn't let Jenny get one...lame/weird! We were bummed she couldn't get one, but at least one is better than none! So after trying the Christmas Beer at one bar (It is very tasty, medium flavored...I'm not good at describing beer though) So as were were moving on to another bar, Jenny stopped to get a Hot Dog cause she hadn't eaten dinner yet, and we made our way to Vesterbro and to the Meat Packing District where there are some good bars! I hadn't been to the area yet, but heard a lot about it, being a young hip area to party, and it's still in an existing Meat Packing area, interesting Combo. So upon arriving at the Meat Packing district, we chose one of the bars that was less busy, Jolene (which Cory tells me if you work at BIG you get a discount...I should have known) and ordered a couple more Christmas Beers. People were still all over with their hats and all kinds of get up for the Christmas Beer. We ended up chatting with these two Danish guys that work for Fujitsu/Siemens...IT guys...total nerds! haha, me and Jenny tried to chat with them for a while, but wanted to leave and head somewhere else. With one more Beer in hand, and Jenny had gained a little Holiday Tuborg Truck from one of the nerds, we made our way back to Vesterbrogade, the main road through Vesterbro. Ending our night with a nice talk, we split ways and I came home and Cory came back from work around 2am. He unfortunately missed this drinking holiday, but we knew that he had Saturday off, so it was a trade off... So Saturday, Cory and I had the day all to ourselves! We woke up late...and then headed to the shopping area, because I wanted to show him some shops I came upon in my free time. One called Nielsen, and another called Norse Projects. I also wanted to show him some things I wanted and get his opinion! We shopped for a few hours, Cory fell in love with a $500 jacket at Norse Projects, but we didn't buy it! haha, that might take some thinking for him. We had coffee at The Living Room, very cosy shop with a fire and couches. Then we headed to Norrebro to see a documentary film (CPH Documentary Film Festival is going on right now, we'll hopefully see some more). When we got to the Theater, there was some sort of Garage/Sample Sale outside of some great brands like ACNE, Wood Wood, and Mads something...can't remember the name. We of course had to look around the place and see if we liked anything. I end up finding a nice sweater for 200 dk and a belt for 50 kr. Cory didn't see anything he liked, it seemed that most of the stuff were mis-cuts and things that didn't sell. After this random happening, we went to the Movie. It was called Wasteland and was about a Brazilian Artist who dedicated a year of his life to creating art pieces about Garbage Pickers/Recyclers in Rio at the Largest Dump in the World...it was huge. And a REALLY interesting film, his art in the end was beautiful and sold really well. He made portraits of some of the pickers out of the recycled objects found at the dump. He also gave back all the proceeds to the Pickers. If anyone has the time, and can find this film, TOTALLY watch it, it was amazing. AND then Cory and I ended going out to a Blues bar in the City Center called MOJO, the band that night was REALLY good...kind of blues/rockabilly. The band was Danish, but sang this super Americana style which was funny to see, but also really a great show! The bar was really nice, something I would imagine you could find in New York. Dark, Smoky, lots of people, and a good beer in hand. On top of the great band that night, there was entertainment that was slightly unexpected...A man who was clearly intoxicated/maybe this was normal for him. He was standing in front of the stage dancing and smoking and drinking, but what made it the best was his dance moves and hand movements, very erratic and entertaining. Me and Cory had some good laughs over this guy...and his sidekick. We noticed that the man was getting reloaded with cigarettes and beers very timely...by his friend sitting in the audience. When he noticed that he was without a cigarette, he would light one up for him and hand it off with ease! Hilarious because we started discussing that the sidekick was Stevie and the man was Kenny Powers (slightly less vulgar even though there was a pulling down of the pants and mooning of his underwear). These references are to the show Eastbound and Down, amazing HBO show that everyone should watch...if you do, you can totally picture what I'm trying to reference! All in all, a great day and night with my guy! But short lived since he had to work the next day :( Until the next post...I won't wait as long so these don't get so long, but I had to write about all the fun/interesting happenings I've done the past week! I'm starting to feel like a local kind of which is great, and I'm still learning the city but feel like I could manage almost without the map in my purse! Hope everyone had a good week too! Hey all!
So this weekend I went to a Halloween party at friend's apartment in Christianshavn. It was an all-day, all-night event and very fun. Started at 2pm and I was one of the last to leave around MIdnight (most people have to work the next day but of course...not me!) There were lots of people from all over at the party! Many Danes, A few Swedes, A couple Spaniards, and of course the Americanos! :) As I had mentioned in my previous post, I went wearing a Poncho, it turned into just a Peruvian (although the poncho was made in Equador), it just seemed to fit better with the theme. At one point I stole a Straw Hat that fit the profile quite well, but since it was part of someone else's outfit, I only managed to wear it for 30 min...but it was nice. I totally forgot my camera, dumb...but my friend Sarah brought hers, and she took some photos so I will post those as if they were mine (sorry for the inauthenticity) The party was very well planned! Many eating goods, like AMAZING pumpkin cupcakes, a pumpkin pie, apple pie, and caramel apples! YUM! We carved pumpkins in the courtyard (and by we, i mean everyone else cause apparently pumpkins in Denmark are hard to come by and I couldn't find my own!) But I enjoyed watching, and drinking :). So a lot of the Danes were not familiar with Halloween nor with Pumpkin carving, so many had to be taught how to...and some were disgusted with cleaning them out haha. After the pumpkin carving we had dinner. Thomas, a Dane and Natalie's Boyfriend (Natalie is the girl who lives at the apartment...and my future roommate) made homemade Chili Con Carne, and he did GREAT! It was SUPER tasty, some of the best Chili I've ever had! After dinner, we started screening some scary movies on a projector in one of the bedrooms, including The Shining, Arachniphobia, Poltergeist, and Jaws. I watched a couple and kept my drinking on. Overall it was very enjoyable Halloween...even though the Danes don't really celebrate! (only saw a few costumes out that night, mostly people our age) Unfortunately Cory couldn't make it cause he was working late. Just got moved to another Competition team, but this time he really likes the Architect he's working with and it's just the two of them on the project (which means he has a lot more input on the design) The Architect is also apparently really good at Grasshopper and the kind of work Cory respects (Grasshopper is not the insect, it is a program that is way over my head and has to do with parametric design, if you care, look it up, cause I don't really know how to explain it haha) Besides Halloween, I'm still wandering the city seeing things and window shopping cause I still don't have the guts to fork over the money to buy anything yet...although I see some goodies in the near future. Me and Sarah, a girl from UW here, plan on heading over to Malmo, Sweden across the water from here (only 45 min away) to buy some Hunter boots for cheaper than here. I want to get some black ones, she wants the red ones. Those will throw me back about $115 US. I also came across a street in the shopping area that had some choice stores, including one called Stig P that was really nice and a Men's store called Nielsen that I hope to drag Cory to when he gets some time off work. Friday night, Cory got off work around 8pm and I met him in Norrebro where he works and we got some dinner and met up with his work friends and drank a bit. We started with a bottle of wine bought at 7-11...strange choice, and took it down to the Lakes to drink in plastic cups (God I LOVE that you can drink outside anywhere in Europe, Come On America, get up to standards here). After realizing it was cold as hell and windy, we headed indoors to a local Bar. It was a really nice place, had a tiny little loft area for smoking that had some room for us to sit and drank some beers until a huge group of French people that one of the work friends knew showed up and things got going. Cory and I left shortly after that because Cory had to wake up the next morning to head to work over the weekend. But it was nice to have a night out with him drinking, hadn't had one in a while. Well...til next time, Here are some stolen photos of the Halloween party courtesy of Sarah. :) Hey everyone!
So it only took me nearly 2 weeks to start a blog, but I will blame that on the fact that I haven't had internet besides walking or biking my butt over to the city library. So here I am now...with a blog and internet....and a way too mayonaissey tuna salad I bought at the store. For those of you who have stumbled upon my blog without knowing what the hell I am doing here...I will fill you in: I am here in Copenhagen Denmark for an "extended vacation" to see my boyfriend, but since I will be here for 3 months, I figure I should try to do something to not bore myself to death while my boyfriend is at work all day...and sometimes night. Side Note: My boyfriend is here on a Internship/Scholarship with the architecture firm BIG for six months, look them up if you don't know them. (www.big.dk) It will probably blow your mind if you're not an architect, and if you are, they should be on your radar anyway cause, let's be serious here, they are kinda BIG...ha ha. OK, back to what I was talking about. I am here on "extended vacay" and I got here just about 2 weeks ago, come this Sunday. Oh, which is Halloween, yes! I will get to that festivity later. I hope to get a job at an architecture firm here for a couple months to get some experience in a foreign office and build up my resume. I am sending my portfolio out there next week hopefully, if I don't hear back soon...I hope I can find something else to bide my time! So since arriving in this beautiful city, I have been a lonestar tourist. I did get the priveledge of meeting up with my boyfriend (which from now on we call him Cory cause I am tired of writing it) at the airport upon landing (which I was so thankful it went so smoothly cause I have had some bad luck "meeting" at airports in the past...long story). We immediately dropped off my pile of luggage at our apartment in Fredericksburg and went back out on the town cause it was such a beautiful Sunday...Sunny (but cold). Walked to Radhus Pladsen across from Tivoli, through the shopping street Stroget, and out to the famous canal street called Nyhavn. Its the one you'll most likely see in a postcard of Copenhagen. I loved it of course cause it was full of outdoor restaurants, boats, people, and of course, colorful buildings! Another side note: I am also an architect like Cory...weird to call myself that cause I am not technically licensed, but I am not a student anymore since I graduated last Spring...oh well. So after Nyhavn, we did more walking I am sure...I can't recall exactly what we did since it was a couple weeks ago. OH...I do remember he took me to a Shwarma place next to his old Study Abroad school (DIS) and it was delicious...though apparently now that he has been here a second time, he has found better Shwarma places. (Shwarma is like a pita sandwich with delicious carved meat of choice) I believe soon after this...we made our way back to the apartment with hopes of going out afterward with friends, but I soon found out that jet lag finally caught up with me and passed out by 9pm. AND...that was the last I really saw of Cory. Ha Ha, not really but it was back to work for him and culture shock/ruining all my shoes time for me! While Cory worked all day, and I didn't have a bike like 90% of this city does, I did all my sightseeing via my feet, which now I am going to have to get rid of two of my shoes cause they have holes in them, and my toenail that was hopefully not going to fall off before the trip...is now hanging on by, well...i will spare you, it's not pretty. So this lasted for a few days until Cory found someone that had a free bike that needed an owner! ME! It came to me rusty, no paint left, with a flat tire and a GIANT u-lock locked to the frame...obviously at one point a stolen bike. I don't care, it's mine now. And it really didn't even have a flat tire, just need air and the screw to the tire tightened! Still Free! yesss! So, now bike in hand, I am a Copenhagen Native...kinda. I was scared at first being that everyone was so confident biking without helmets and in skirts and heels. (good website for this evidence is www.copenhagencyclechic.com) I am working on all this but I would say I am just about there! The no helmet thing is fine now, the bike lanes are so great here they are usually raised off the street level, and sometimes have their own signal! Portland, I love you, but you need a Copenhagen System! So being a Tourist...I have done your general visiting tours. Shopping, Canals, Lakes, Plazas, Playhouse, OperaHouse, Danish Design Center, Danish Architecture Center, Gardens, Thrift Shops, lots of street hot dogs (so good here), and a bike ride to the beach! So after Cory had to work over the weekend, and never came home between monday morning and tuesday night...he had a couple days off! Sleeping through half of Wednesday we took our time getting out. We went shopping cause he was in the mood to spend. I haven't decided exactly what I want my first purchase in Copenhagen to be. 1. because I don't have a lot of money and am afraid of my expensive taste and 2. because there are so many good things here I want to take it slow. I do know that my shoes will be the first to be purchased. As well as a very nice oversized sweater with a generally cheesy pattern...something i could wear over leggings. The girls have such good style here...but I do find that a lot of them dress almost the same. or at least 70% of them have the same pair of shoes...I might become one of them though, cause I do like them. haha. So speaking of shopping, I plan on hitting up the thrift shops in the city center for my Halloween costume...My first and really hope for a costume would have been Margot Tenenbaum but a fur coat is a serious thing here and I definitely can't afford that. So when looking at a shop two days ago, I found a section of AMAZING ponchos with great patterns. 2 in particular caught my eye for a sort of Native American theme...too bad I forgot my moccasins at home. So I think I will head back tomorrow to buy one of them and go as a Native American...maybe have a tiny braid in the back...I don't have the longest hair right now so it may turn into a rat-tail...which could be for the better with the costume. We shall see if I win the costume contest at the party. Sunday, we were invited to a friends apartment to celebrate Halloween by carving pumpkins, eating pumpkin seeds, watching horror flicks, and eating/drinking! Anyway, I should stop this long post because I am sure you are tired of reading. And it's 630pm on a Friday. I just found out Cory has to work again this weekend, BUT he said it won't be all night like last weekend, just during the day. I will continue next time! For now, I will enjoy what comes my way here in CPH and hope that I learn something here. |
AuthorMy name is Ellen Hagen and I am in Copenhagen Denmark for 3 months until early January 2011. I don't know what I will do for 3 months, but I am sure I will do something! Archives
January 2011
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