After my parents’ visit last week, I had two days to do as much work as I could and clean my room again before one of my best friends from high school, Sam, came to stay with me! Sam isn’t studying abroad until second semester, but she was on fall break from Bates College and decided to spend five days in Denmark. I advised her to sleep as much as she could on the plane so that when she get here on Wednesday afternoon, we could have as full of a day as possible.
This is what my room looked like after my floor’s air mattress turned out to be a king-sized bed.
After dropping her bags off in my room, we went back into the city to Rosenborg Castle in the heart of Copenhagen. I’ve already been on two castle tours, but I hadn’t toured the one castle that’s closest to my home so I was excited to do that. Sam is fiend for all things art history and religion, so even though she had never been to this castle or to a Scandinavian country before, she served as my tour guide. We also walked through Amalienborg Palace and then got a drink to catch up- the first time we were legally able to do so!
Sam and I- reunited!
We had to head home and make dinner quickly so we could meet our friend Kerry from high school and her roommates at Tivoli! I went to Tivoli last weekend to see the Halloween decorations with my parents, but I hadn’t been at night yet. It was so pretty! We watched a light show in the little lake they have and got lost in a hay maze set up for children. I think it was the perfect way to spend a night.
Tivoli all lit up.
Instead of helping Sam out of the corn maze when she got stuck, I took a picture.
I’m in class for most of the day on Thursdays, so Sam explored on her own and we met up at 4pm. We walked through the Christiansborg Palace area and the Black Diamond Royal Library, then went back to my room and crashed for an hour before dinner. We met up with a group of friends at Riz Raz, a Mediterranean restaurant here with an all you can eat buffet for 100 kronor (about 20 USD)! For a dinner out in Copenhagen, that’s a great deal. Of course, it’s never a good idea to go to a buffet before going out that night. We both ate way too much, but we still put on some loose shirts and ventured out. My kollegium had Oktoberfest celebrations last week at our bar, so we went to that for an hour or so and then went into the city around 1am. I can see why the Danes like going out so late…we had so much fun that we didn’t go to bed until 6:30am!
Celebrating Oktoberfest at my kollegium’s bar- Hatten Bar!
We slept in as much as we could on Friday (until 11am) and then met my friends Kerry and Lauren for lunch at the market at Israel Plads, my favorite food place! I had my usual meal of a wrap and a cupcake. Then we walked down to go see The David Collection, a museum in Copenhagen I hadn’t heard of before. The pieces in the museum all come from the private collection of C.L. David, who was an incredibly wealthy Danish lawyer. The museum contains everything from china and cosmetics sets to ancient Islamic art. With Sam playing tour guide again, I learned more about art there than at any museum I’ve ever been to!
Some Islamic pieces of art at The David Collection.
After The David Collection we went to the National Museum of Denmark to see some art from the Middle Ages and to Christiania. We made dinner together and spent the rest of the night wandering around the city center before heading home fairly early to crash after our late night the night before.
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We had big plans for Saturday! We took the train out to Roskilde, a town about half an hour away from Copenhagen where a few of my friends live in kollegiums. The town of Roskilde is really cute and was the former medieval capital of Denmark. We browsed through a market we found in the town square and exchanged a churro with a Viking for the chance to take a picture! We were mainly there to see the tourist attractions though. We first went to Roskilde Cathedral, where most of the kings and queens of Denmark are buried. Both the exterior and the interior of the cathedral were breathtaking. The sarcophagi that held various monarchs were all ornately decorated, and after reading so much about leaders like Christian IV and Frederick V, I couldn’t believe I was seeing where they were buried.
Outside of Roskilde Cathedral.
One of the decorative rooms in the Cathedral.
After the Cathedral we walked to the Viking Ship Museum. In the 1950s, scientists discovered five Viking ships that had been sunk in the fjord that leads to Roskilde. They excavated the ships, which are now displayed in the museum.
Some of the ships recovered from the fjord that are now on display at the Viking Ship Museum.
They were also able to make a modern-day Viking ship using one of the war ships as a model, and in 2008 they sailed that ship to Dublin, Ireland! We got to climb in the ship that sailed to Ireland and dress up as Vikings- Sam was particularly excited about that.
The ship that sailed to Ireland.
Sam wanted to make this her Halloween costume but couldn’t figure out how to get it out of the museum.
Once our adventures in Roskilde were over, we headed back to Copenhagen to relax and do some work before going to a romantic dinner along Nyhavn. We had to walk from one side of the city to the other after dinner to meet up with some friends for our night’s main activity: going to the Copenhagen Icebar! One of my friends happened to decide to make a reservation, and it was the perfect way for Sam to experience the abroad life. We excitedly donned our blue hooded parkas and thick gloves and walked into…a small room that was made of ice. I was excited about the ice part, but the bar was A LOT smaller than I thought it would be. There were three or four other groups of people in there with us, and there wasn’t much space to sit or stand.
Emily, Eliana, Sam and I at the Icebar.
We gamely got our free drinks (that we got after paying 150 kronor to get in) that were served in ice glasses and proceeded to enjoy the 40 minutes allotted to us in the bar. It was pretty convenient being in a room made of ice- when my friends Sam and Eliana got thirsty, all they had to do was lick their glasses! After taking lots of ridiculous photos and losing feeling in our hands and legs, we escaped back into the warmth of the lobby. A group of us headed to the Meatpacking District afterwards and ended the night with a 2:30am snack of falafel and crepes!
Eliana and I amused ourselves by playing with the ice chandelier.
Our group in our eskimo outfits- sadly they wouldn’t let us keep them.
Sam’s flight left early Sunday afternoon, so we didn’t have much time together in the morning before she had to head to the airport. It was so much fun having her here, and I think she proved that you can really see a European city from the U.S. in a long weekend! I had lots of schoolwork to do after she left, but I was able to get a lot of it done. That turned out to be a good thing because Kerry invited me to a last minute soccer game on Monday! Our friend Maxwell’s host dad had two extra tickets, so Kerry and I got to see F.C. Copenhagen play F.C. Nordsjaelland. Unfortunately, Copenhagen lost, but the game and the hot chocolate I got were both very enjoyable.
Parken stadium- I forgot to take a picture with actual players on the field.
I have a lot to get done this week because I have a crazy schedule starting this weekend: Sensation White concert on Saturday, Amsterdam on Sunday, Budapest on Tuesday, Vienna on Thursday, and Ireland from next Sunday to the Sunday after! Yes, my two week travel break is here. I won’t have a chance to update during that time, but expect some looooong posts when I get back!