Well, it’s my last morning in Copenhagen. I just said goodbye to my host parents and Kasper, and my suitcases are all packed up in the corner of my room. This is weird. After the first month here in Copenhagen, I never thought I would be ready to go home. Even yesterday I was dreading today, but as Gabi told me, now that all of our friends are leaving, there is nothing keeping me here. Of course I love Denmark, but it is the people I met along the way that are making this goodbye so difficult. I never could have expected how this journey would turn out or how it would change me, but I am so grateful for these past four months. I don’t regret a thing.
I realize I haven’t updated in almost a week, but I swear I have been having the time of my life with all of my friends! Basically after my exam on Friday, which went well of course, I have been spending time with everyone as much as possible. Friday afternoon, I got a beer with a few of my friends in the afternoon to celebrate being done with school. Then I went over to Gabi’s house to cook dinner for her host family! We made them a dish called chicken french, which is from the Rochester, NY where Gabi lives. We might have had a few mishaps with the rice and forgot to add flour to the sauce (which would explain why it wasn’t thickening up), but we fixed everything in the end and it was delicious! Our friends Tim and Mark came to dinner, too. They were actually supposed to help cook, but they came late when dinner was almost ready. Typical boys. We had a lot of fun talking to Gabi’s host parents at dinner though, and afterwards we went into the city to meet up with a bunch more of our friends. We ended up drinking outside for awhile before going to one of our favorite bars, Happy Pig, one last time. There was a lot of crazy dancing and crazy music just like always :)
On Saturday we went to Tivoli! It is the second oldest amusement park in the world, and it is actually what inspired Walt Disney to make Disneyland! We got discounted tickets through DIS, so it was good deal and we got to go with a bunch of our friends!
It was a really nice day at first, so we went on a bunch of rides. We went on swings that are really high so you can have an awesome view of the city, and we went on a few roller coasters.
The picture below is my favorite one of the day.. it captures everyone’s emotions so well haha! We were waiting in line for a roller coaster, and Gabi was just telling everyone that the ride goes around twice. Ryan is super excited, Pat is like “really?” and Tim is about to pee his pants.
Unfortunately later in the day it started to rain, and it got cold. I really don’t like being wet, so I didn’t go on anymore rides after that. Gabi, Mark, and I ended up going back to my house in Glostrup to watch a movie. We actually stayed in for the first Saturday in a long time! Gabi was a little sad we didn’t go to Kulor Bar one last time, but I was absolutely exhausted!
There isn’t much to say about Sunday. I stayed home, packed a little, skyped with some friends from home, did laundry, etc. It was a nice, relaxing day.
On Monday I had to go to DIS to return my textbooks, then I met Gabi and our friend Jackson for lunch. Gabi really wanted a calzone, but I really wanted nachos. Then we remembered this Italian-Mexican restaurant we ate at when her friend Abby was visiting back in February. Isn’t that the weirdest mix of cuisines ever!? It ended up working out perfectly though! Gabi got her calzone and I got my nachos! It was a little rainy/drizzly that day, but it was nice sitting outside under the umbrellas and by the heaters.
After lunch we went to this place called Studenterhuset, which has cheap drinks and food for students. We ended up getting some drinks and sat around talking for almost three hours with our friends. It was still kind of gross outside, and there was a candle on the table. It was so hyggelig…or as I say, hyggelicious!
Then Jackson wanted to go up in the Round Tower, which was a project of Christian IV (who basically made every building in Copenhagen). It is right in the center of Copenhagen, and was created as an astronomical observatory. There are only a few stairs to the top because it is a big circular ramp, apparently because Christian IV was lazy and wanted to be able to take a horse carriage to the top. Jackson and Tim made it a fun experience haha. I’m going to miss them!
The view from the top was so pretty, even if it was raining!
After the round tower, we all headed to the King’s Gardens so my soccer-loving friends could kick around a ball and I could stand there and talk :) Last time I kicked a soccer ball I was in 6th grade… and I tripped and sprained my ankle. Then all of my friends went home to their host families, but since mine were in Paris, I went over to Mark’s kollegium to make AMERICAN PANCAKES! I couldn’t wait until Friday when I was home haha. It was a little interesting because there were no American measuring cups and spoons, but they ended up being delish. I guess you could call me a pancake champion, or something like that. It was funny though because we couldn’t find syrup at the grocery store, so we just put some jam on them. So I am still craving American pancakes with peanut butter and syrup on top! We also watched Anchorman because my friends were quoting it all day at Studenterhuset, and according to Jackson, “it defines comedy for our generation.”
Tuesday was filled with DIS events! We had a concluding ceremony at 2:30pm, which was just some speeches and music. Then we all went to Studenterhuset for a champagne reception courtesy of DIS!
After we all got our fill of bubbly…
we declared it dinner time!
Gabi and I had walked by this one restaurant a million times throughout the semester, and we always drooled over everyone’s food when we walked by. Then one day we saw a sign that they have half price food Sunday-Tuesday, so we could actually afford to go out to eat in Denmark! We had a lovely “Skidmore Family” dinner. I just realized that I didn’t get a good picture of all of us at dinner, but I have 5 pictures of us with a magazine that was at our table called “Bitchslap.” We are so mature :)
After dinner it was time for the DIS end of the semester party! It was at a club on the lake, and all of us Americans got down on the dance floor haha. It was so much fun!
Some of my friends were leaving the next day, so it was really sad when I had to say goodbye to them at the end of the night. Goodbyes are terrible.
Yesterday was my last full day in Copenhagen. I got my last Danish pastry for breakfast to help cure my hangover from the night before. Then I met with Gabi in the city later. We went to our favorite bakery, St. Peter’s, and I got a sandwich. We ate at Frue Plads, which is where the opening ceremony for DIS was and it was also where Gabi and I met each other. It was funny reminiscing on the first day. Then we went to Studenterhuset again for coffee and people watching, and we just had fun talking about random stuff. I can’t wait to visit Gabi and everyone at Skidmore!
We walked around the city for a little bit after that, went into the huge department stores and pretended like we could afford anything there. Pat also came into the city and walked around with us for awhile. Gabi got her last hot dog from the stand at Gammel Torv, of course. Then we parted ways and I had to say goodbye to Pat, until the fall at least!
Then I had to go home for a few hours to clean up my room and pack. Packing is so much easier to do when you’re just going home! It only took me about an hour. I even had plenty of room in my suitcase…probably because I had to throw away basically all of my shoes because the cobblestone destroyed them. Oh well! My host parents weren’t getting home from Paris until 11pm that night, so I met Mark in the city for my last dinner in Copenhagen. I had been wanting pizza for the last three days, so we got pizza and sat outside at a restaurant that’s pretty close to where we went to school. We weren’t done with dinner until about 10pm, but it was still pretty light out so we walked to Nyhavn and around the city for awhile. I miss my friends already.
When I got home around midnight my host family was already in bed, so I set my alarm for 6:45am so I could say goodbye before they left for work and school. It was nice having coffee and breakfast with them one last time :)
Obviously there are a lot of things I am going to miss about Copenhagen, but thinking about them makes me tear up. Therefore, I am going to write the things I am not going to miss:
1. The secondhand smoke I am exposed to on a daily basis.
2. Cobblestone sidewalks.
3. Slow walking.
4. The lack of really good peanut butter.
5. Not understanding people’s conversations around me.
Hmm.. that’s about it. My “I’m going to miss…” list is much, much longer.
Gabi is going to be here in about an hour to help me take my stuff to the airport. Mark is meeting us at the airport so I can say goodbye to him too. I hope I don’t cry. At least there are hot dog stands in the airport so I can have my last one before I go home to make me feel better!
Well folks, I guess this is it. As my host mom told me this morning, “Every happy story has an end!”
Hej hej!
Emily
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