Kobenhaven

I think it's time to talk about Copenhagen or Kobenhaven as the Danes spell it. This place was completely crazy. I mean two days here made for more crazy than I've experienced in my life thus far. I had expected it to be almost just like Stockholm... I was wrong. City wise this was like a level up. It was bigger, less safe, and there was more bustle about it. The night we arrived was the night of the World Cup final so people were everywhere (even though it was 2am) running around in capes and face paint. We watched this while we waited for our bus to come shuttle us to the hotel. While waiting we also saw a drunk man who kept undressing and the ladies of the night competing for attention on their corners. We couldn't believe it. I mean this is stuff that I've seen in movies but never so much as thought about happening in the real world. As this was going on our profs warned us to avoid certain parts of the city... they didn't have to do that when we were in Stockholm so to be honest it kinda put me on edge...
On our first day we toured the city and learned about their government. Our tour guide kept insisting that they weren't socialist but it all sounded like socialism to me. Then (like almost every European I've talked to) she kinda bashed America then asked for our opinion on both Bush and Obama and ended with "we liked Clinton". It's unbelievable how many times I've had that same conversation here. Anyway, on the tour we saw the changing of the guard then took off on our own to find food. The day was incredibly hot, humid 90s due to a heat wave, so we were all sweatin it out in our fall wear we had packed. We pushed through though and gave the city a thorough exploring. We even located a hippie village (almost commune) called Christiania. It's a self proclaimed freetown that Denmark tolerates, it does not consider itself part of the EU. I felt like I was at Woodstock the whole time. A woman we met on the train had suggested the place and told is it would be like time travel back to 1969 America. She was dead right. This place was unreal , I don't have any pictures though. There are two rules in Christiania and as long as you don't break them your fine. 1. No pictures inside, if they catch you they take your camera and smash it 2. No running. I know that sounds super sketch but the people we talked to about it told us those rules and assured us we would be fine, plus we were in a group of 11 that day. It was an amazing thing to see and even though I was reluctant at first I'm so glad I did it.
On our second day we spent most of our time outside the city touring castles and learning about Danish history. The castles were beautiful! It was a really nice day doing that. Later that night we decided to go shoot some pool. It was a Tuesday night so for a long time it was just us at the pool hall along with our Russian friend that we met at dinner who had come along. Then things changed, a few Danes came in and challenged our guys to a game. They were wild. One kept singing into his pool stick and dancing with it... until he decided to dance with me that is. This guy just came right up got me around the waist and before I knew he was spinning me all over the the place. It was fun... I mean he was a decent dancer and all... but it was weird. Later the other guy Yalum (that's a pronunciation spelling... I have no idea how he might spell it) started talking to me about life in the states and comparing it to life in Denmark. It was really interesting but got a little uncomfortable when he turned to politics. I'm really shocked at what a negative view so many Europeans have of us... it wasn't easy trying to politely explain the American way without offending him and worsening his view of us.
All in all Copenhagen made for a very interesting experience and I'm glad I got to have it. However I must admit that I liked Stockholm quite a lot better and with the excitement of London ahead I wasn't to sad to leave Denmark.