Hillsborough Street

The city I came to study in

Now it is time to talk a bit about my home for the next couple months. My residence is in the heart of Copenhagen. I know it sounds a bit like an advert but I am within walking distance to major attractions: Nyhavn, Stroget, Tivoli. 5 minute walk to the metro. Spacious room with parquet flooring. Reserve your room today. But seriously any post card stand in Copenhagen will have an alarming amount of pictures of Nyhavn. A small canal lined with colorful buildings and outdoor restaurants. The freezing temperature stems their business this time of year but that is understandable. All the canals in Copenhagen are frozen over with a thick layer of ice. You can see the odd bike thrown out onto the ice. Surprisingly little snow however. And I do get to wear jackets - my favorite things. We are also by Stroget, a long pedestrian street filled with shops, bars and restaurants. All the people in my building are great. I spend most of my time on the second floor even though I live on the fourth. Partially because it is a good stopping point when walking up the stairs and also because Joe (University of Bristol, England), Jon (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver), Caroline (George Washington University, DC), Kelsi (USC) and Frank (HES Hodgeschool, Amsterdam). I usually cook some sort of meal with Joe and Jon. Joe fancies himself a chef as does Jon. During the first half of the semester I am taking three classes which last 3 hours each once a week. Brutal with the timing. Emerging Markets: Societies in Transition, Web Interaction and Design and Innovation Management. Web Interaction and Design is a waste of my time, each class digresses into incoherent babble from my teachers. The other two are worthwhile and interesting, so two out of three isn’t terrible. Thursdays one of our school buildings turns into a nightclub with the “school bar” serving drinks. Bit of an odd experience considering I have class just above where I am dancing. Copenhagen: still cold.

No Pants Half-Hour

Back from Rome on Monday and off to Reykjavik on Thursday. And NO mom I didn’t miss any class and YES I will get to experience Copenhagen. Iceland’s welcome party was eerily similar to Denmark’s. It was so windy we couldn’t even disembark until a calm period. Our first night in Iceland was uninspiring to say the least. We were told everyone is out and about in Reykjavik so where were they? The convenience store pizza went down a treat though. Luckily the rest of my time in Iceland did not disappoint. As promised Reykjavik was buzzing Friday and Saturday night. Everyone was out, young and old, tall and small. Cafés by day turn into hip bars with well-dressed Icelanders come night. As bars close people continue to mill about on Reykjavik’s main strip. That is where I first encountered “No-Pants Half Hour”. After being accosted by a band of grungy teenagers with their pants around their ankles blaring nondescript Icelandic pop, we were confused. The nice lady simply told us “it is No-Pants Half Hour, it is actually quite common”. Down come my pants and into the group I jump. Also on display was Pall Oskar who we were told was “Iceland’s gayest DJ”.  I might have misquoted the person who told us this. She could have said “Iceland’s best gay DJ”, “A gay DJ” or “One of Iceland’s best DJs, who is gay”.  All are true. At one point we were wondering if Pall was still playing, he was. The song “It’s raining men” and a techno version of the Grease soundtrack should have been indicator enough.

Iceland has more to offer besides libation, the Blue Lagoon for starters. The milky blue hot spring turned spa placed in the middle of a volcanic field was quite the experience. I am sure we were not supposed to spend all day there but let a man indulge a bit. Before I forget one of the main catalysts for a trip to Iceland was the island’s natural beauty and the possibility of seeing the northern lights. We rented a tiny red car and set off on the “Golden Circle” tour. Volcanic crevices, a spectacular waterfall and geysers were on display (even Geyser the geyser all other geysers are named after). We drove around Iceland’s country roads (something my dad would be proud of) and got to see a different side of Iceland while waiting for the northern lights. Luckily the night was cold and clear enough to catch a glimpse of the aurora borealis. At the end of the day Iceland is full of surprises even one that grounded all of Europe’s flights.

Four bottles does not a bar make

The scene, Rome duty-free. The crime, too many euros out of pocket.

Joe is looking at bottles, I am running around a little bit overwhelmed and Jon is floored by the cheap prices of Dansk Vodka. To be fair anything we buy and use would be savings off Copenhagen prices.

One thing leads to another and pretty soon Joe and I have lined up bottles of every type of liquor in order to make an exquisite bar. I don’t think the duty-free employees appreciated it but the customer is always right. A brief bit of reason enters this situation and I narrow down my selection to four bottles. Dansk Vodka because it is in an aluminum bottle and fulfills my vodka void. Bailey’s to impress women. And Limoncello and Disaronno if for nothing else but to be pretentious. I did just come from Italy after all.

Then I look at Joe’s selection.

He doesn’t have a green bottle.

I can one-up him with a green bottle.

Bacardi in the basket. Done.

Plus four bottles is not impressing anyone. Five now five is a bar.

On the way to the counter I toss a giant Kinder Surprise egg in my cart to put the icing on the cake.

In retrospect it was all a lame attempt to impress girls with a colorful array of drinks. But I have to hand it to Joe, he did win in the end with the purchase of his own Disaronno bottle for a few euro cheaper during our Germany layover.

What am I doing in Rome

I didn’t even get to see Copenhagen from the air. I always like to sneak a glimpse of cities from the air but alas fog, gray skies and darkness engulfed my new home. Great! I thought my new home was a freezing cold, damp, rain soaked country. My friends studying in Spain and Argentina aren’t enjoying nearly the same weather I am. Yet Copenhagen proved to be much more endearing than its off-putting welcome weather. Blah blah blah I could write all this business about meeting new people in my residence (which just so happens to be two blocks from Nyhavn – the postcard of Copenhagnen), welcome dinners but I don’t find it particularly interesting. The take-aways: Copenhagen is a vibrant city, albeit a bit cold and dark and luckily I have a good group of people with which to experience it. With two of my friends (Damien and John) I plan a trip to Iceland. Iceland!! Halfway back to the US, isn’t it? It was a choice that had to be made because none of us could decide on an itinerary to the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and the contingency plan was Iceland. I thought my first trip would be to Iceland then Thursday Innovation class happened.

Out of breath from biking to class and unable to put up much of a fight Jon and Cindy convince me to book a flight for Rome the following morning. I was pressured into it a bit by Jon (one of his favorite things to do). Joe also fell victim to the pressurizing, so less than 24 hours after booking tickets I am on my way to the eternal city. I don’t even know these people, what am I doing but it was a choice which I came to love because everything during that trip went our way. Foosball table during the layover, check, T-shirt weather, check, no lines when judged on Rome’s standards, check and the list goes on. Every direction in which I took a picture yielded a worthy photo. We walked every inch of the city but the best attraction resulted from my near flawless plan. Superbowl Sunday and we are all at a loss whether or not to watch the game. Enter my plan. “We go sleep at 8pm, wake up at 2am and walk to a sports bar in the city center after the game we watch the sunrise over Rome, go to the Coliseum and catch or flight that afternoon”. Ambitious? Yes absolutely but did we execute it perfectly? I’ll put it this way: even the Russian judge gave us a 10. The Vatican with not a soul in St. Peter’s square was quite awe-inspiring. I might have been rushed into my trip to Rome evidenced by the fact that I booked the wrong flight home but even that issue was resolved free of charge. Well done Rome. Well done.