Andrea i København

So now I will try to give a brief overview of what’s been going on in Copenhagen since my return. Or at least, what had gone on since my return when this update was first written 2 weeks ago…(By the way, ff you’re seeing this post first, you should go down the page and read about my trip to Italy and Austria. I did it city by city due to the technical difficulties I was experiencing, so start at Milan and work your way up to Vienna.)

Well, first of all, the weather has required some adjustment. I don’t mind the cold, but it rains constantly. We see the sun maybe once or twice a week, if we’re lucky (no exaggeration here). Plus, the sun starts going down at around 3:30-4:00. By 5pm, it’s night time. It’s very strange to not see the sun for days on end, and bike home from class at 5:00 in the darkness. I’m not sure I would want to live here year-round, it’s very bleak. And I’m so tired of being wet. One day Bri and I met a friend in the city for coffee. When I left the house it looked okay outside – no sun, but no signs of rain. So I left with no raincoat. But by the time we left the coffee shop to go home, it was pouring. Bri and I biked home in pounding rain, and it was awful. I was nervous because everybody gets more aggressive, I can hardly see, I worry about people seeing me, and I was soaked! Mascara all over my face, hair drenched…But by the time we got inside it was so funny we had to take a picture:

Bri and I after the terrific bike home, with our angry faces on (being silly). But notice the mascara that ran all over my face..

And a full body shot, notice the jeans...

Besides the weather, autumn in Copenhagen has been gorgeous. The trees turned all sorts of brilliant colors, and it was a fall like I haven’t seen since I lived in Virginia. I loved it, and it helped to cheer up the dreary weather. Now all the leaves are falling off, so that sucks.

One day as a class excursion for Danish Culture we visited Frederiksborg Slott, an old castle turned Danish history museum. It was a very interesting place actually. But I'm showing this picture of the castle's gardens so you can see the pretty autumn colors.

Another picture from around Frederiksborg's gardens.

And one more, because the colors were so pretty..All of Copenhagen (or Denmark for that matter) was full of trees with brilliant red, orange, and yellow leaves. I actually wish now I had gotten more/better pictures.

Oh and by the way, the wind is still my nemesis. It is still the bane of my cycling existence, and I still hate it with a hot fiery passion.

One cool event that has happened: “J-dag”. Every year, the breweries here in Copenhagen release a “jule øl” (Christmas beer). On the day of its release around the city, each of the big breweries is out in trucks or horse-drawn carriages, “delivering” their beer to bars/pubs and spreading holiday cheer. At each stop, they give out a certain number of free beers. My friend Patrick told me that this event is pretty much the beginning of the holiday season here. So of course my friends and I went out to partake in this holiday tradition. More important than the free beer (which we only got at one bar because they were all so crowded) is the holiday atmosphere around the city. All of the breweries hand out santa hats, and one was even handing out flannel shirts bearing their logo. Some bars had artificial snow blowing out of an upstairs window, and there was Christmas music playing. Everyone was just out in the streets, celebrating and drinking beer and welcoming the holiday season.

Artificial snow!

The horse-drawn carriage the Royal Beer company was going around delivering their beer from.

I very badly wanted one of the shirts and hats that the Royal Beer company was giving out. We came upon this square, where there was a Royal Beer trailer set up, with a huge line in front. I had a feeling something big was going to happen in there. I pretty much cut in front of the whole line, and was the 3rd to enter the trailer. A Royal Beer girl led me in individually, gave me a gingerbread cookie, then a shirt, then a hat, then another girl stamped my cheek with a kiss and with a flurry of snow released me back onto the street! So here I am still celebrating my victory.

So, the day after that was Halloween, which was great fun. A friend of ours threw a huge party, and me and 4 friends dressed up as the Spice Girls. I was Sporty, and we were a hit.

Martyna aka Ginger, Bri aka Baby, Me aka Sporty, Wiktoria aka Scary, Edyta aka Posh

 

Now I have one last piece of news, and it is sad. A few days ago, on Saturday November 7, I had my first bike accident. I was riding home from Caitlin’s apartment, where we had had a quiet evening eating candy and watching a movie. It was about midnight, and I was on the bridge from Amager (where Caitlin lives) over to the city center. As I came up to the apex of the bridge, I saw that the police had pulled someone over into the bike lane. I had awhile to decide what to do. I considered going into the stree around them, but it’s a busy bridge. Even though no cars were immediately behind me, I wasn’t sure if that was the right option with the police there. Then I considered getting off my bike and walking it onto the sidewalk around the police (in retrospect, I should have opted for that one). But no. I looked at the curb and thought, “Hey, I can get up on that. It’s a bit bigger than usual but I handle the others fine, I think I can do it.” So, thinking I’m some big professional curb-jumper, I swung my bike out and headed toward the curb. I promptly found myself on the ground, half on the curb and half on the street, with my bike on top of me. I immediately got up, and realized that my ankle hurt a bit. Some people walking a bit behind me came up and asked if I was okay, I assured them I was and started collecting my belongings.  I took a step and realized that my ankle definitely hurt, so I walked my bike for a bit. After about 5 minutes the pain faded and I thought I had just twisted it and it was fine. I biked the rest of the way home, and realized that my ankle really did hurt. But I could walk on it alright, with a bit of a limp. So I iced it and went to bed. The next day I woke up and it was really swollen, with some bruising. I tried to  stand and couldn’t put any weight on it. Thank God, Bri got home from her trip to the Czech Republic and was there to take care of me. She got me some frozen veggies to put on it, and basically tended to me all day. But I was horrified, because on Wednesday I was set to leave for a trip to Germany with Caitlin. Well, the next day (Monday) I could walk on it a bit but it was painful. I called a doctor I was assigned to, and they told me to give it another day. So today (Tuesday) it was pretty much the same. I went in to the doctor, who then sent me to the ER for x-rays. Bri was with me the whole time by the way, and I’m so grateful for her! Anyway, they took x-rays and found that, fortuntely, there were no fractures. Just a bad sprain. The doctor told me I could go to Germany, but that it’s going to be painful (duh). So anyway, I’m walking on it, slowly and gingery and with a brace. And I’m headed to Germany tomorrow, so that I can limp my way through Berlin and Hamburg. I can’t believe this happened. Most people I know here have fallen off their bikes while drunk, and walk away unscathed. I fall off my bike completely sober, and end up with a sprained ankle? Not fair, world. Not fair at all.

But, it did give me an insight into the Danish health care system. Since I’m legally a resident of Denmark right now, I had full coverage under their government health insurance. That means I was seen, x-rayed, and treated for free. Absolutely free. When I first realized I might have to go to the hospital I felt sick at what the cost might be. Even though I have insurance, and travel insurance, I was sure it wouldn’t cover x-rays and such here. Then some people told me it would all be free, and I couldn’t believe it. But it was true. I won’t say anything political, obviously it’s a matter of great debate in the US right now, and I think even those who support universal healthcare are waiting to see how this new bill pans out for us. But an exchange student in the US in my position, would have been screwed.

So anyways that is the end of my original update, which was supposed to be posted over 2 weeks ago. Since then, I have limped around Germany on my sprained ankle, but had a great time. The ankle is doing alright, by the way. Still not 100% but I’m getting around just fine. I’m even going down stairs normally again. This morning I picked up Mallory, one of my best friends in the world, from the airport. She’s here to see me for a week! I was overjoyed to see her. And she brought me American snacks (goldfish and reeses!). So this evening we are leaving for Amsterdam! We will be back on Tuesday, and then I will get to work on my next update regarding Germany and Amsterdam and the Copenhagen Thanksgiving we are planning.

Until then!

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