Vi ses, København. / Hallo Berlin!

Update: I will be away for a little while as I am leaving for Berlin tomorrow! A few other new things:

1. I have a bike which I bought on a website (entirely in Danish) from a guy named Esteban who wore a rainbow coloured scarf. It came with classic looks, a sketchy gear shift, mix-matched parts and lots of character.

2. I have a used cellphone via friend of a friend which for some reason only has Snoop Bounce as its ring tone. (Not that I'm complaining.)

3. I dropped off two rolls of film from the diana to the nicest man ever today. Turns out there is a photo lab 10 minutes from my house that will develop square negs.

4. I went to Christiania today with Ali. It is an amazing place that is also very hard to describe. The closest thing it reminded me of was the Toronto Islands community... plus even more amazing houses, cargo bikes everywhere, lovely organic vegetarian cafés, cannabis in plain view on Pusher street and a lot of political tension. Will definitely be revisited.

5. I passed my Danish exam! I actually got the highest grade of 12 (on a scale that is too diffcult to explain but you can read about here) on the written exam but a 4 (eep) on the oral exam for a combined mark of 7.

When we return I will jump right into my GIS class (= "Geographic Information System" = satellite mapping for nerds), which I am quite excited for.

Vi ses! (see you).

Romantic Solo Dinner.

Here is my romantic and very hygge candle-lit solo dinner. Hooray for successful and yummy vegetarian dinners! The zucchini (or "squash") frittata recipe may be found here.

The Danish Diet (money, meat, rugbrød and bicycles)

The last few days feel as if they've been really busy. Yet I don't feel that I've done anything of note... On Sunday I went to the Glyptotek, which was beautiful, breathtaking and wonderful. I took a few pictures on the little Diana (2 rolls that need to be developed now!) but it is definitely a place to which I will return. Afterward, I went to a place called Café Retro to warm up and do a little reading (currently Nabokov). It was so perfect! The mismatched furniture reminded me of a place on campus at home, except much better executed (as everything in Scandinavia it seems). The café is non-profit, everyone works for free and everything is fair trade and organic. The best part is how good the coffee is.

Good coffee, among other things, is surprisingly harder to find here than I thought. At a reasonable price, that is. Today I met up with a Danish student who came on exchange to Canada last semester and we spent 40kr ($8 cdn.) on a coffee each in a tiny shop off the street! Oops.

Apparently vegetables are not that popular either... Amongst the 5 different grocery stores of varying price ranges I have visited (excluding high-end chains whose prices are unheard of at home outside the doors of Pusateri's) the produce aisles are ultimately Spanish-imported accessories for the massive selection of meat and bread. Vegetables here seem like decorations on a fat and carb-laden christmas tree. Not to mention that these decorations must be either pickled, heavily salinated or chopped to a homogeneous consistency of cow cud. No sweet potatoes, no rapini, no cauliflower, no artichokes, no non-white mushrooms, no rutabaga, no fresh asparagus... I could go on and on. Today i was practically ecstatic to find some zucchinis, which were labeled "squash" in the supermarket. As for actual squashes? Apparently they don't exist...

So why are the Danes so thin? The bicycles, of course! As I write this there is the sweet sound of bicycle lane plows droning by. Oh, Copenhagen - although you may rip me off with $8 coffees and keep me on a pitiful diet of salads - I am falling even more in love with you.

p.s. Don't worry mom, I'm not skimping - and I am meeting the lovely author of this blog to end my vegetable woes with a Copenhagen culinary run-through on Friday!

Quiet Sunday

This is the first piece of "hygge" I've tried to add to my tiny apartment... I never really understood the mysterious reverance of the colour "hyacinth blue" - until now. These photos barely do justice for the deepness of the hue.

Today I am thinking of going the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek to where there is free admission on Sundays. I would really like to cook a serious meal tonight (re: pasta 3 nights in a row), but everything is closed on sundays and closed at 5pm on saturday! Studying should also probably be on my agenda, considering I have an exam on Friday for the closing of my Danish class... Time is going by so quickly!

p.s. I am fully recovered from my cold. :)

Stuck in My Room!

Ughghh. I slept in, missed class and have been in bed all day! Looks like I'm down with a cold and not going anywhere soon... Hopefully this citrus-y breakfast will perk up my immune stystem?

My First Week

Tomorrow will mark one full week since I have arrived in this city. There have been so many new things in my life I don't know where to start! The Danish class I am taking in the mornings eats up quite a bit of my time. Our teacher is quite animated, so learning Danish is fun, but it is so difficult! There are twelve vowels and much of what is written in Danish is not pronounced. Although everyone speaks English, there seems to be a lot of respect earned if you at least try to say a few words in Danish, so I am eager to learn!

I have met people from Germany, Brazil, England, the United States, Italy, the Czech Republic, Singapore, Hong Kong, Poland, Russia, Columbia and more! It has been amazing experience to be with people from all over the world who are in the same situtation as me - nervous, lost and excited!

Most of all, I cannot wait to get a bicycle! It seems to be the only practical way to get around the city. The metro is expensive and not exactly comprehensive, although it is very efficient - machine-operated with an honour-based fare system enforced by hefty and unsympathetic fines. And you can buy your passes and tickets at machines! It just seems to make senese... when oh when will Toronto learn?

I am living in an area to the south of the city called Amager (pronounced "ah-mah"). Although it may not be the prettiest area, I am only 10 minutes from the city centre on bike and just a short walk to the metro. There are 11 other Danish students with whom I live on the same floor and share a kitchen. I have only met a few, but they are all very friendly once you get past the initial "hej" and awkward exchanges. One girl has been helping me find a bicycle! I have been doing most of my grocery shopping at the local Netto, a small kind of grocery/convenience store with cheaper prices. The prices are still more expensive than home though, and it is so hard to find a variety of vegetables! On the other hand, there is a huuuuuge selection of sandwich meats and breads... which doesn't really help me much.

Everything here is fast, efficient and clean. I have found most Danes to be incredibly helpful, warm and genuinely friendly but there a few that with a somewhat brusque demeanor... Our Danish teacher thinks that Danes have become "rude" in the past few decades, but at least when they are friendly it is genuine!

Adventures On Foot

Here are some pictures from my walking adventure today. From Kongens Nytorv Station, I walked along the Nyhavn canal, then all along the water's edge up to the Citadel (Kastellet). Despite the freezing wind I had a wonderful time.



Leaving the Citadel. There were lots of people jogging along the upper walls. It was hard to believe they could be so zealous about exercising in the cold...

The street across from the citadel, with the cutest litte coffee shop squeezed in that little blue building.

Tiny and adorable. Kafferiet - "Slow Coffee".

A cappucino and some drawing. mmmmmmmm.

zippppp!

I've finished my first roll of film! From Toronto > The Atlantic > Amsterdam > Copenhagen. Pictures soon when I find somewhere to develop them!