I leave for Denmark tomorrow, and I have never felt as happy as I do now. 

I left my heart there, and I’m more than ready to be reunited…. soon, so soon :)

Will be here in 5 more days <3 

The amount of love that I feel for this man is more than I could ever possibly state in words. I remember nearly everything about our relationship that has significant importance and I reminisce about it often…. I remember our first kiss, our first sober kiss, the first time we talked on facebook, the first time we held hands, the first time I said I love you, the first time he said I love you and the first time we’ve had to say goodbye at an airport.

My heart misses him; in fact, every part of me misses him… So soon, so soon.

I know it sounds crazy but, I think he’s my perfect match and I couldn’t want anything more… 

Jeg elsker han så meget…. 

berlin wall, the last morning in berlin, us in a huge bubble!

So, I think because I failed at making this blog an actual blog during my travels, this will be a post reflection… I want to note some of the most memorable times I had abroad before they unfortunately slip my memory. So, here it goes!

Berlin: the first stop on my week long adventure with my darling pal, Emily Tansey.

So, after a night of drinking with my favorite Danish people, and hardly recovering from my week in the Czech republic, I took a quick plane ride into Berlin in the wee hours of the morning. Upon arriving, I met up with Shoup and Emily and we found our way to Bryno’s apartment for a three night, four day extravaganza in Berlin. 

Upon arrival to Bryno’s apartment Emily and I came to the realization that the space was probably the size of my foot, but an absolutely beautiful place. It was white and clean, adorned with tasteful art and flowers. A bit womanly, but respectable. The bathroom may have been my favorite part. Bryno, if you read this, I’m not insulting you at all, I’m just merely pointing out the differences in our cultures. I loved your apartment, I loved hanging out with you and I had a great time in Berlin. Please don’t take any of this personally…. As I was saying, the bathroom was pretty standard until you realized that there wasn’t really a shower door… there was like a sheet of glass that was maybe about 6 feet high and 3 feet in width… The rest of the bathtub was left uncovered and water just got everywhere when you showered… Or atleast when I did… Also, Bryno, you literally have the most cologne I have ever seen in my entire life. That is why you smell so good, all the time. 

After cozying up in our living situations, Emily and I got acquainted with Berlin by going through a lovely run. AFter which we went to this really really really cool museum that had like bubbles and stuff. I cannot explain this one bit, I’ll post up pictures or something. It was awesome, and Emily and I went with Bryno and his friend who’s name escapes me now, since its been so long. We ended the night at a really good Vietnamese place and then returned to the apartment for some drinks.

Okay so this is where it gets interesting. Emily invited a couple of friends over, Shoup popped by and we were all drinking at the apartment… Apparently I make  super strong drinks because one sip and Bryno coughed and never asked me to make him a drink ever again… I think it was rum and coke’s… Eventually we made it out and now it gets fuzzy. Shoup almost got into a fight with some Germans, then went about screaming things he probably shouldn’t have and Bryno had to save him. We ended up at a bar, where Shoup was man crushing all over Bryno buying him drinks while I just talked to Emily, until that ended for censored reasons, and returned talking to Bryno. After that Emily never ended coming back with me, Shoup built a bike and I put my drunk butt to bed.

The next morning was rough, but I recuperated by making everyone omellettes and going on a run through Berlin. Emily eventually came home and we then met up with Shoup and walked through Tiergarten, saw the Reichstag and had the best falafel I’ve ever eaten in Alexanderplatz. We also went to Tachelize (I definitely butchered the spelling) at some point, but I mean, the days get really muddled in my memory.

The only notable thing after this was our last night in Berlin that was truly the most fun i’ve ever had… Emily, Bryno, Chris and I ended up going to this delicious Thai food place right near the apartment and had a deliciously cheap dinner. Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment, had some wine and watched Van Helsing in preparation for our trip to Romania the next day. We shared some laughs, lots of wine and a good time. The next morning we sadly left Berlin, and prepared ourselves for what was to come; the trip from hell…Romania.

Just the most amazing time I’ve ever had away from lovely Denmark. Ask me about it when you get the chance because Tumblr just doesn’t do it justice.

Czech Trekk

So i’m officially terrible at updating this thing… Right now I am currently in the Czech Republic, specifically in Hruba Skala, pretty far away from Prague. It’s a cute place in the mountains, where I am currently lying in my bed in a castle that overlooks the rolling hills of the countryside. 

The trip was actually pretty bad to get here. I left after Sensation White, well, a few hours after Sensation White and boarded a bus that drove from Copenhagen to here. From Denmark we took a ferry to Germany, and from there, had about a 10 hour bus ride to Hruba Skala. About an hour after that, we started our adventure. First thing I did today was learn how to shoot a bow and arrow….and after about 8 tries, I realized that I’m a fucking Lefty considering the fact that when  I shot Righty my score was 5, then lefty it turned to 30…cool Cat, way to be all sorts of fucked up… Well after my epic fail of archery, I went on a nice hour long run through the mountainous Hruba Skala, almost fell off the side of the cliff to my death, but luckily made it back to the hotel.

From there, yours truly was naturally late for lunch. Consequence? My lactose intolerance was truly fucked with. So, since I told them I can’t have milk, they made me a special meal that was composed of potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini and this mysterious fried thing which I thought was fish… However, when I took a bite, I realized it was about a 10 gram fried block of cheese. I had such a small amount of it because I was just starving, and spent the rest of the day perpetually nauseas. Although, I powered through it and ended up zip lining, rocking a rope bridge and propelling down the side of a cliff. And to top it off, I ran another 30 minutes… I’m nauseas and sore; good thing I’ve got a hike tomorrow!

 Who am I and what have I done with the old Cat Espiritu? 

The weekend and Sensation White

One of the best weekends I’ve ever had here in Denmark. First of all, Kaitlyn and Alexa came to visit me, and automatically life is a little bit more complete. We had a pretty rough start on Friday. Most of the day was spent in pajamas lying in the Tv-room watching Hanna and just about everything else on Rob’s hard drive on repeat. Went on a run, and finally got my act together at about dinner time…Sounds like the perfect time to get my shit together, right? Finished some papers, then started to drink.. Granted, Kaitlyn and Lex were drinking for a solid hour before I could even think of drinking. However, we all know what happens when you put 3 Siena girls in room with alcohol; they get hammered. Played some slap cup, flip cup; you know, just being Amurrican’s. It was a good ol’ time. Spent some well needed time with some old friends <3

Saturday was a shit show. I was pretty hungover, and realized I had to start drinking about 8 hours after I had just sobered up. I pulled my shit together and got on a white outfit for the night. I must say, me and my friend were looking pretty shnazzy. When we all finally made it into København, everyone was dressed in white. It was absolutely incredible and it got me so pumped. Between me and about four other people, we killed a bottle of tequila and rum, so I mean, I guess you can say we were well lit for the night. Or at least I was. On the way to Parken, I met this guy Douglas who is from Scotland (right?) and had some Braveheart face paint going on… Pretty badass. Normally I wouldn’t mention something trivial like that, but, at Sensation, I lost just about all of my friends and ended up hanging out with him and his friends for the entirety of my stay. He was a really cool guy and we bonded over surfing which to be honest, is becoming a common occurrence for me… Thank god for common interests! But honestly, no words can explain the magic of sensation. Between the light show, the music and the company I was just on a constant high. Don’t get me wrong, exhaustion definitely set in midway through Martin Solveig, but, overall the most amazing experience of my life. If I could do it again, and still wake up with the bruises and knee pains the next morning, I definitely would. Sensation 2012? Definitely.

 
I headed home that night, and came back to a bumpin’ party at G-vigs. Standard. So what do I do? Join the party of course. Standard. No drinking, but I hung out with all the Dane’s and had a lovely time before I bailed because I’m old and decrepit and needed to go to bed…and by old and decrepit I mean I was covered in beer and sweat from Sensation and it was just embarrassing to be out in public. Although I’m sure that no one noticed since they had all been partying for quite some time. 

Sunday I woke up, went to brunch and attempted my revenge wake ups. For all who may not know, if you wake me up in the morning, I will get you back by jumping into your bed and being overly happy… That last part you should all be familiar with if you’ve ever met me in your life. I’m quite the morning bird… Regardless, when I actually went to go wake Rasmus up, I was too loud and woke him up preemptively. I really hate when I fuck that up since I haven’t been able to successfully pull one of those off since i’ve been here. I need to work on my ninja skills, clearly. AFter my fail, I spent some time with my Danish friends who I love dearly before I packed and headed off to the Czech Republic. Oh, and of course, there was the morning “shit on cat for sending drunk texts”…. Can someone please take my phone away from me? And for the record, there is no need to blame me for texts I never sent. Example: Daniel read out a text which I never sent, in fact, he sent it to me… I’m all about calling me out for my faults, but let me deserve them…. I think I’ll keep the drunk texting, everyone seems to love it.
Now here I am, lying in my bed in this beautiful castle. Sleep time? you bet. 

Here are some pictures of Sensation!!

Here are some pictures of Istanbul; Haggia Sofia, Blue Mosque and the slabs of random things are Turkish Delight :)

So this blog will be brief because I am just utterly exhausted. I am currently in Istanbul, Turkey and arrived here Saturday night. Since then I’ve visited the Blue Mosque, Haggia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, the Greek Orthodox equivalent to the Vatican and Suliymen Mosque…. A lot in two days right? My head is spinning from all the amazing sights I’ve seen. I’ve also had the great pleasure of seeing beautiful Turkey at sunrise while running from my hotel to the Old City, past all the ports, as well as sunset over the Blue Mosque and Haggia Sofia, overlooking the ocean and all of Istanbul. 

There truly aren’t words to describe the amazingness that is Turkey, so with that being said, I’ll leave you some pictures.

I’ll elaborate later, but right now, deuces!

Seriously DIS what the eff? I don’t wanna be doing this shit right now. I have a paper, plus a Danish quiz and a quiz in European Storytelling… I haven’t done work in like four months and I can’t start now.

Although I’d love to update you on my life; specifically the epic fail that was this past weekend, I can’t. But Sparknotes version:

Friday: Went to this club called Penthouse. Made friends with the bouncer, had the bouncer bounce someone for me after he showed me videos of his horses on his smart phone. Also met some awesome Norwegian businessman who was too drunk for his own good, but a fantastic dancer. Got asked by a Spaniard if he could stay at my place, in which I quickly said “absolutamente no, ciao.” and bounced in a hot minute… also told a guy to grow a pair of cajones, which is actually a very funny story that you should ask me about when you can… it ends with me going “it’s sad that i’ll probably be more of a man than you ever will be” Cat ftw :) Also came to the realization that men in Europe are not more mature than men in the US; that is a common misconception that needs to be dispelled.. douchebaggery has no boundaries. 

Saturday: Went to Keops, the Kollegium near CPH, then got lost for about an hour and a half trying to go to this club. The club was a fail and really shitty.. I don’t even want to tell you about it because it was so damn bad.

Sunday: went to the police museum in Norrebro (i think?) and had a really good time. It was a beautiful day, and I rode my bike which made it even more spectacular. I also got some solid shots of Denmark which I’ll leave up in a bit.

School is sucking the life out of me… Midterms as caused me to nap 3 times today…. ahhh fuck this dude…

On the bright side, although Denmark is driving me crazy, I will be getting out of here soon! TURKEY on Saturday; and I’m feeling the warm weather and change of scenery.

deuces, y’all. 

So, although I am having an amazing time here, I can’t keep ignoring the ugly blemishes this country is riddled with. One of the biggest issues I’ve been dealing with since I’ve been here is racial discrimination. Of course, whenever an American goes to a European country, they will be shit on for their accent and inability to speak any language other than English. However, I seem to experience this extra bit of racism based on the fact that I’m Asian and this homogenous society cannot handle those who are not blonde and blue eyed. Just about every single night I’ve gone out into Copenhagen someone has made some sort of derogatory Asian statement towards me. For example, Friday night I was on the S-Tog with my friend Sal who is also Asian and this Iraqi-Danish guy started pretending to speak Chinese or whatever. Then, his friend said “dude, that brown girl isn’t Asian she’s fucking native American” and started screaming Apache at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately, I didn’t say a single thing to them because there was about 4 larger guys against me and a very little Asian girl. I think it started really getting to me lately because I’ve never experienced this amount of racism in my life. i’ve been out in Copenhagen at least 15 times now, and each time, without fail, someone makes a comment about my race. I mean, there was even one time that I was speaking Spanish with my friend on the train and some drunk Danes started antagonizing us and making fun of us for speaking in a different language. It’s just so damn frustrating… and I mean, none of this ever happens when I’m sober, or when they’re sober; it’s like when Copenhagen goes dark and everyone is drunk, it turns into a fucking monster. Is that what these people think when they’re sober and have no balls to say it at the time? 

I can’t say that this is all too shocking though. When you look at the completely homogenous society that hasn’t had much interaction with minorities, it’s understandable to see why they’d react this way. A lot of Danes want to preserve their way of life and their cookie-cutter society, so, when they’re faced with people that disrupt normal society, they freak out. I am by no means justifying their actions, but I do understand where they may be coming from. honestly, some of these ignorant Danes need to realize this is the 21st century and everything is changing and globalization is happening whether they like it or not. I’m not asking for them to like every minority that comes in, but I am asking for some decorum. Respect other people, and just like they used to say in Kindergarten, if you have nothing nice to say, then say nothing at all. 

I picked the BEST time to come to Copenhagen. 

Just in case you guys don’t know, it is both election season and the world cycling tournament. How freggun cool is that? There have been a remarkable amount of people flooding the S-Tog and the streets of Copenhagen just to watch these amazing cyclers race through the historical and beautiful city. It’s honestly the most amazing site. Streets are closed off and are instead filled with professional cyclers speeding through the streets. I’ve honestly watched these races just because I was amazed as to how people weren’t crashing every 15 seconds. It’s insane, and it’s going to be like this for the next week. This totally makes up for the fact that the buses aren’t running properly and the S-Tog is overly filled…every morning…

In terms of the election, I have never been more excited to watch numbers go up and down. People here are so involved in politics and it’s incredible. At my folkehojskole, the Danes held a viewing party which I actually took part into. I decided that I shouldn’t spend my time completely hammered so I sat down and tried to follow as much as I could. What was really confusing is the fact that red and blue mean COMPLETELY different things here. Red is our blue, and blue is our red, so, the entire time I couldn’t remember which color I wanted to win. Eventually I figured out that I wanted Red, specifically SF, the social democratic party. After like 8 hours of counting, the new PM was elected and it was the first woman to win the position. She also was heading SF which was pretty awesome.

So I basically witnessed history. Woman PM and World Cycling Tour? Couldn’t get any better. 

“Sex is not the end… Integration turns me on; orgasm, spasm”

That is a direct quote from my professor Jakob, who I absolutely adore. My weekend in Sweden was absolutely more than I was ever anticipating. I had come into Denmark with the preconceived notions that I wouldn’t get along too well with people in my program, just the ones I lived with. I figured a lot of the kids in my program would be nerdy and overly driven to the point where academic competition would get in the way of our fraternizing…I am so damn happy that I was wrong.

           

Thursday

With my luck, we only had two days of classes since Wednesday is always an off day for students, and Thursday all of DIS was departing for our short study tours in different parts of Scandinavia. While most of my friends were headed to Western Denmark, I headed off to Malmo on a 45-minute bus ride to visit the first mosque and Islamic school built in Sweden. Much like Denmark, Sweden is a largely Protestant nation that at one point had no differentiation between church and state. It is only recently that the division between the two entities has occurred.

Anyway, groggy me and a few of my friends boarded on the bus from Copenhagen and found ourselves in Malmo in no time. I never expected the school to look the way it did. The building was a fair size, just about the size of WMS and was adorned with minarets with crescent moons delicately placed on top. The building was built in a square shape with a large courtyard filled with flowers in the center, right in front of the entrance to the mosque itself. When you entered the mosque, there was a small room that opened up to the main room, which had a very interesting design; it was a sort of mix between traditional Arabic decoration and architecture with the hint of Scandinavian minimalism. Now, if you know anything about traditional Muslim architecture, that contrast is very contradictory; but that’s exactly what it was. The repetitive nature of the designs was present, as well as the high ceilings and arching windows and pathways, but, there was also a lot of white and open space left on the walls. It was a very interesting architectural find.

            Aside from the beautiful nature of the building itself, we did address the socio-political aspects of the school itself. Our guide informed us that when the mosque/school had opened, there was much protest amongst those in Malmo. As a result, there has been two terrorist attacks on the mosque, both engulfing the building in flames and calling for immediate and desperate reconstruction. What is interesting about this, is the fact that the school teaches its pupils in the traditional Swedish way. Although some classes are taught in Arabic, there is also an emphasis on the use of Swedish. Also, Islam is only taught for one hour out of everyday, while the rest of the day adheres to standard Swedish educational requirements. Students are also not required to wear headscarves, and are in  fact, encouraged to wear what they feel is right. Although there are services available for the students to take part in, the school felt hardly Islamic. In fact, students were not required to be Muslim to attend. From an American perspective, these rules seem to be so loose and liberal that there shouldn’t be an uprising against such an institution. However, Scandinavian perspective sees it as threatening and so radically against their ideologies that it warrants terrorist attacks. These attacks seem so counterproductive to developing a harmonious society in future generations since Swedes of Muslim decent cannot practice or learn their own culture and religion in a free manner. If there is dissonance between societal norms and immigrant culture, how can Sweden expect these individual’s to support Sweden and become constructive members of society. Swedish society needs to reform its perception of outsiders in order to create a functioning heterogeneous welfare state.

            After we left the mosque school, we went into Malmo and explored. I visited one of the oldest castles in Sweden and it was a huge let down. It has been renovated countless times, so it looks more like a really nice state penitentiary rather than an elegant castle. However, the garden located right near the castle was beautiful, and provided a very beautiful walk for my friends and me. It was also really good bonding time, but I don’t want to delve too deeply into that because I’m more concerned with the political and learning aspect of the trip at this current moment.

            We then visited Rosengard, one of the most famous “ghettos” in Sweden. I put the word ghetto in quotations here because our conception of ghettos in the US is wildly different than those in Europe. First of all, every building in the ghetto had a satellite dish, which is clearly not the case back in the states. In addition, there were about 7 very new, and well-kept playgrounds, which apparently wasn’t enough since there has been a demand for more playgrounds. Also factor in the fact that the first minority Swede has joined the Swedish national team and coincidentally lived in this ghetto. Because of this, they have attained a new Nike soccer field as well as more soccer equipment… Did I also mention that there’s a shit ton of modern art sculpture pieces throughout the entire city? It was ridiculous! Also, the crime rate WITHIN Rosengard was 0. That is clearly not the case in the US. As much as that wasn’t the main point of our visit, it really got me thinking about the economic and societal difference between Denmark and the US. It’s so clear that economic distribution is so much more even here, whereas it’s radically different back home and that’s a real shame. Poverty and ghettos shouldn’t be incredibly different than “normal” society because regardless of ethnic background, we’re all citizens and residents of the same state and should have a minimal standard of living that is livable. It really sucks to think that because of American mentality we can never provide this kind of living standard for those who need it. I am by no means promoting a transformation to a welfare state, because quite frankly that couldn’t work. Although we have a functioning heterogeneous society, it’s based too much on the individual rather than people in a wholistic sense…. But I think social cohesion is a conversation better saved for a later date.

            After our long day, we had a delicious dinner at this restaurant composed of pasta in a cream sauce, sautéed with crab, lobster, shrimp and muscles. Thanks DIS for the awesome dinner. On our bus ride to the hostel, my professor Jakob put on this tv show that they show for adults around Christmas time that was basically Wondershowzen. So, as a preface, Danish tv stations put on these special shows that only play for 24 episodes during the 24 days leading up to Christmas. While the kids shows are all stories about how to get great presents from Santa, the adult ones are parodies on current issues. In this episode, the characters were all hand puppets that are trying to deal with integration. Amongst the racist comments and slurs, was the repetition of this one song sung by a red headed librarian in which the lyrics went, “Orgasm, spasm, integration turns me on.” Did I mention that this entire thing was in Danish so the only way I understood it was because my professor was narrating (in tune) the entire episode? I’ll try to upload the video because his singing was hilarious.

Friday

In the morning, we went to the multicultural museum. To be honest, I really thought it was odd that Sweden had a museum devoted to multiculturalism considering that everyone’s assumption about Scandinavian countries is that society is basically a homogenous society with blond hair, blue eyed beauties walking around. But when you really take a moment to stop and look around, Sweden is incredibly diverse. The city in which the museum was located was surrounded by a variety of restaurants and stores ranging from Thai to Moroccan. It was absolutely incredible; both the museum and the Thai food I grabbed for lunch.

The first exhibit was called Destination X, which highlighted the different reasons why people travelled; whether it be for pleasure or to seek political asylum. I think the most captivating exhibit within the exhibit was this quilt made of the tortilla napkins found at the US-Mexico border left by those illegally crossing. Each napkin had a different message stitched into it. Some of the ones I can remember said, “Para ti, Mama” and “Safe travels, We love you always, Good luck.” In front of this quilt was a line of about 16 backpacks from little kids. I sat in front of this piece for quite some time in utter amazement. I was imagining all the men, women and children who make this journey from Mexico to the US and leave things behind. I was wondering what happened to them; whether they got caught, shot, or if they achieved their dream and were living happily ever after in the US. Every napkin and backpack had its own story and a real person attached to it; and that person would never see that item ever again. Something about the idea of never seeing something so personal held at such a pivotal time really shook me, and still invokes this feeling of anxiety whenever I think about it. This exhibit also showed me how real border crossing is, and makes me wonder, what are we to really do about this? Another piece that spoke a million words was a picture taken from the coast of Spain on a beach that overlooked the Moroccan border. On the beach was a police officer and the lifeless body of a Moroccan girl. Everyday, dozens of Moroccans and Middle Easterners attempt to swim the ocean between Morocco and Spain, and everyday, most of these people die. The current is so strong that most drown before they can make it anywhere close to Spain, and their bodies wash up on the Spanish shore waiting for the authorities to properly dispose of them. These desperate attempts of escape really makes you wonder, what the fuck is wrong with world that we live in and why can’t states provide enough for their constituents?

After the museum, we had a roundtable with this Swedish professor who taught about religion and to be honest, I couldn’t tell you much about it. I was way to fucking tired. I even asked a question, but I don’t remember what it was. If you want to actually know about this talk, which was pretty interesting, let me know and I’ll look at my notes and write about it.

That night we had dinner at another top notch place in which Jakob bought each table 4 bottles of wine, right before we all went to a bar with our professors. I called it an early night and drunkenly got two friends and myself back to the hostel: without the help of any Swede. I’m a boss at directions, no big deal.

The next day we explored the Swedish coast on a boat ride where we saw about 15 naked old people waving to us from the Russian bathhouse, and one naked man swimming in the harbor. After our boat ride, we spent more time in the water and kayaked for about an hour and a half. I raced my professor and he kicked my butt. It was a beautiful view, despite the cold air and water. But I mean, why would I complain; who else can say they went kayaking on the coast of Sweden?

Overall, the weekend was full of bonding with friends, but more importantly, a real learning experience. I find that I am currently at a loss of words, or at least words that can adequately explain my experience here. Everything is so different culturally and politically that I’m just stunned. 

Thought i’d throw this in here for funsies…. post about Sweden to follow! Just gimme like a day or something.. :) 

(via remarkablyordinary)

Just in case you don’t understand that reference please look up “Loca People (what the fuck)” by Sak Noel. It’s originally a Spanish song, and kind of the theme of my time here in Copenhagen. Since I’ve been here I’ve gone out at least 4 times a week, which, if you know me is ludicrous. Back home I drink once maybee twice a week (granted I go big and somehow go home) so this is crazy to me. Regardless, it’s been an amazing time… So lets catch up with the past few days, eh?

Friday: 

(starting off with less eventful information) first of all, I ordered my first hot dog in Danish today… If Alette (my danish professor) saw, she would’ve been proud. Then after, I ordered a sandwich from Big Apple which is owned by one of my favorite Danes, Christian. Each time I go in, he talks to me about the most interesting things and makes a great sandwich. I think he’s grown to enjoy my company because he spent about 15 minutes teaching me Danish and then about an hour talking to me and Will about Christiania and how much he loved it there.It’s so refreshing to find a friendly Dane, since so many want nothing to do with American’s…

I also had the lovely opportunity to share a meal with Rob and Tonamy, two of the most important, interesting and beautiful people I’ve had the pleasure of spending my time with here in Copenhagen. The three of us live in the same building and had a deep conversation about fate and free will. It’s so good to find people who are so intelligent and insightful so far away from home… I can tell they’re gonna be a big part of my life here.

Anyway, that night my friends and I went to (wait for it…) God’s Kitchen. So if any of you happened to talk to me the first week I was here, you’d know that I passed by God’s Kitchen everyday, noting the picture of the Nun using a cross to cover up her naked body. Since then, the Grundtvigs American’s and I have been itching to go there. Coincidentally, the Insomnia Tour was at God’s Kitchen which made me so irrationally happy. After working out (obviously I’m still working out like a fiend here) we all rushed to get ready, managed to catch the last bus out to the station and made it to Copenhagen. When we get into CPH, we pass by the Studenterhuset (student house) and there’s like a live band with a gigantic party going on inside which we almost went to, but realized we had a mission. Losing everyone except Tonamy, we finally got to God’s Kitchen… I really have no idea where my friends were to this day, by the way. So we get there, and obviously the first thing that needs to happen is Tonamy needs to start bleeding from her shoes anddd I twist my ankle right before I get in. I know, I’m wicked attractive when I do things like that. Regardless, her and I ended up dancing for about 6 hours with very few breaks. We got there at about 1145, and upon entry we naturally had 4 tequila shots in about 15 minutes. You’d think by now I’d be done for a while? wrong. I found Michelle and she bought me another tequila shot with two more beers and within about 45 minutes my night starts to get hazy. From this point on, I didn’t buy any more of my own drinks, but, drinks kept showing up in my hand… So at this point, thank you to everyone who bought me a drink/ got me free beer. What I do remember is what I am going to go through now; talking to this guy Hassan about Arabic language to then find out that he actually knew no arabic. How did I find that out? I spoke to him in Arabic and he looked at me like I was crazy. At that point I peace’d out and didn’t see him for the rest of the night… Then I taught some people how to salsa, why? No idea. Then I found myself in this other room where it was like one huge rave. Saw a bunch of people in my classes and did the obligatory “Oh my God hiiiii!” I really need to not do that. I think the only person i was really sincere with was Tyler who is one of the funniest and sweetest guys I know here. But back to the story; Tonamy, Michelle, Walter and I all ended up dancing on this huge platform and it was amazing. Seeing a sea of people dancing below and people staring from above as I danced in the center where everyone could see was invigorating. I haven’t enjoyed dancing as much as I do now, honestly. Then from there I truly don’t remember what happened… I think I was pulling Michelle away from taking a drink from this really creepy Iraqi guy….Then we met some guys and girls who went to the Copenhagen Business School, and they were pretty nice, I think? Eventually, I realized all my friends had left me and Rob, and let me tell you, neither of us were in the condition to really make sure the other was safe. Low and behold I ended up losing Rob, just in time to find my pseudo-boss (sort of not really, kinda) Bryno. We danced and talked and I had a really good time. From the conversations I can remember (I’m terrible I know) he’s really cool and interesting, but, story of my life, I lost him too. It’s odd, I remember talking to him one minute on the dance floor, then I think he ran off somewhere and then I don’t know…. So, here I am walking around, drunk off my ass with about 7 shots of tequila and about 5 beers in me (it’s an approximation based on everyone else’s memory of what I drank) Luckily, the grace of God brought me to Tonamy and Rob dancing after about 10 minutes of walking around like a chicken who just lost her head. At this point, we all came to the realization we were exhausted and trekked our drunk asses home on the 6something train… I know, who am I, I was out until 6AM. In which I got mugged on the train home…Don’t worry everyone, I’m fine, they just took some money and my friends camera. If you wanna know the story just ask, but, know that I’m fine… What a way to end a great night right? But seriously, I can’t even verbalize how good of a night Friday was. Lot’s of drinks, good music, AMAZING company in a great place made Friday the best night I’ve had here in Denmark. 

Saturday:

As per usual we played the “Who didn’t come back to Grundtvigs” game. Shockingly enough Tonamy, Rob and I were the only one’s who did make it home. Everyone else ended up going to Christiania at 5 AM, which apparently literally looked like hell. I have yet to actually go there so I have no idea what hell looks like, and hopefully I never will. We spent most of this day nursing our hangovers and looming around in our rooms away from loud noises and bright lights. Seriously, I don’t think the Danes saw any American’s until dinner. Once dinner rolled around we all were rehydrated and dressed for a Spanish themed meal consisting of Mussel’s, tapas, stuffed bell peppers and a myriad of other delicious foods that smelt very much like home. Amidst the meal and conversation, we sang songs in Danish from the Grundtvigs song book, which although sounds cheesy and odd, was actually amazing and fun. Also, Danish happy birthday is infinitely better than this shitty US version. I’m spreading the fun when I get home. After dinner, I had a decent amount of wine, enough to make me miss the bus into Copenhagen (which really fucking sucked because I was supposed to go to this awesome latin dance club…next week, for sure). That all was probably a blessing in disguise because I got time to bond with the Danes that we live with. I had a really interesting conversation with Martin about the Faroe Islands, before he became drunk to the point where he couldn’t even stand. Then I talked to Paeter about atheism and really good books we’ve read, and I played foozball with Paw where we kicked ass… No big deal. I also had a lovely time dancing with Andrea and Marie, I do love those girls dearly. And of course, a night wouldn’t be a night if I didn’t spend some quality time with the Grundtvigs American’s. A night with them is never ever boring. I really think I’ve found some great people here who are so intelligent and sweet, and I’m so lucky for having found them.

Sunday

Not as hungover. Did a lot of homework and then that night I ended up going into Copenhagen to this jazz bar with Michelle for a girls night. Loved the music, but did not love the unwanted company. A 55 year old guy bought us drinks and tried to talk to us in which we jetted out of there as fast as we could. We went to the bathroom then came out to see these two guys pounding on the bathroom door as hard as they could. They then tried to talk to us in which I resolved the problem by speaking in Spanish and telling them I couldn’t speak English. After they scattered, I actually ended up having a really interesting and brief conversation with Magnus, the 21 year old trumpet player from Norway who attends the Conservatory in Copenhagen. It’s really rare to find people as music nerdy as I am, so, I was happy to have the company. We talked for a little then Michelle and I headed to Herlev where she lives. The night bus is awful, and I never want to take again. We got lost, and the driver was a dick head. 

Monday

Hungover and sick as a dog. I need to stop going out.

Soo that’s my week so far… I leave for Sweden on Thursday, and get back Saturday so, who knows what’s to come! I do know one thing for sure, I have to get better by next weekend. I’ve been listening to an excess of Latin American music (obviously, when do I listen to music in English anymore?) and have to make it to Mambo. I’m itching for some spanish music, good company and people who can dance. But in more recent news, SWEDEN IN 2!!! :)