Frolicing through Copenhagen

Last weekend I took an adventure to Copenhagen to visit some Duke friends and attend Sensation White.  One of the best weekends ever. Thursday we did not have class since it was a Spanish holiday so I left Thursday afternoon after a night out on the town in Madrid dressed in my drindl celebrating Halloween the right way.  A little detour right quick about Halloween: apparently the place to go in Madrid on Halloween is TGI Fridays.. who would have thought.  Charlie and I went there to get our American food fix without being aware that the restaurant would be turned into a full-out haunted house.  It was insane and all the workers were dressed up in these scary costumes, the entire restaurant was decorated from head to toe and they played creepy and tradicional halloween music.  It was such a great call to go there because we had the true taste of halloween in Spain, a place that doesn't celebrate Halloween the way Americans do.  I also did not get the memo about dressing scary in Spain.  I wore my cute little drindl and every single other person looked like they came out of Buffy.  Everyone was dead and haunted looking and I just looked like a lost German girl roaming the streets of madrid on Halloween night.  Gotta get my money's worth for that drindl though..

So back to Copenhagen... I left by my lonesome and had a layover in Frankfort.  Met these two cool dudes and got drunk in the airport off of delicious German beer and then we all proceeded to fly to Copenhagen together.  Lufthansa is the bomb-digity and serves you free food and alcohol on board the plane.  What a tease since I can only afford to fly Ryan Air from here on out.  I finally arrived in Copenhagen around 11:30 pm and Paige Arnold is my hero and sent me the best How To list in the world.  She walked me step by step, navigating me through the airport and how to get to her apartment taking the metro and changing onto the train.  She is also amazing for letting me crash on her floor and being my tour guide around the city.  We did a ton of amazing site-seeing together and I would move to Copenhagen for so many reasons, especially for how superior their chai tea is compared to anywhere else.  Best thing ever.  We saw Nyhavn, the beautiful rainbow canal district in the city and we took a water taxi to see the Little Mermaid statue.  Their transportation passes include water taxis!  That is the coolest thing ever.  I am obviously somewhat obsessed with this city.  The people are so stylish and beautiful and they just love Christmas there.  Friday night we went out to for the holiday they celebrate in honor of the release of their Christmas beer.  They had all of these beer trucks drive through the streets and in every bar at 9:00 they released this new beer for the christmas holidays.  We also went to this club where we paid one standard fee and then for the rest of the night it was all you can drink, no charge.  Purdy good deal if ya ask me.  Copenhagen isn't cheap either, but I am a fan of that concept.  They use the kroner there instead of the euro and the exchange rate was very bizarre.  Brunch cost us 90 kroner, which seems like a ton but it's really only like $16.  Because it was so confusing, it felt more like fake money to me so it is a good thing I was only there for a few days or else I might have spent all my money without realizing it.

After the beer night celebration, the following night was Sensation White, and what a sensation that was.  I saw so many Duke kids that day, very similar to Oktoberfest.  We all dressed in all white, cooked home made dinners to save money, drank lots and then went to the huge electronic music festival that takes place every year in throughout the world.  It was so much fun and something I'll remember forever.  Also, another cool aspect of Copenhagen is the lawless district called Christiania, which is this artsy, hippie area where all the drug dealers post up booths and sell their goods.  It was an interesting expereince and was preparing me for Amsterdam, if I am able to make it there this trip.  Also, two states in Amurica have legalized marijuana.  Super sweeet.  Finally we can tax it and make some money off the drug, which is the way we should have been doing it from the beginning.  It isn't legal in Copenhagen like it is now in Colorado, however the district is known as a freetown and the authorities pay them no attention and allow the town the freedom to do what it wants.  It is a cool place to visit to witness the progressive and liberal Danish lifestyle.

To wrap things up, Copenhagen was awesome and if I ever have the opportunity to go back to Denmark I for sure will.  Maybe live there one day.  I love the fact that everyone speaks english.  I am a little over the whole Spanish speaking language barrior things.  I'll let the picures say the rest about the experience.