My European Adventure: Cafes, Kroners and Fun

I am exceptionally horrible at recalling what I have been up to over the last few days. I seem to have been both very busy and not busy at all. My days are crammed with things I've been doing but only on my own accord because I seem to have so much free time here.

Besides still attending the language course every morning until noon, my friends and I have been mindlessly roaming this never ending and extremely enchanting city. Last tuesday we toured the Royal Library and saw the famous new extention known as The Black Diamond... it consists of some super cool danish arcitecture which is way ahead of its time (as is with most of the new buildings in Denmark). It sits on one of the canals that flow through Copenhagen and is stunning.

Walking down Stroget, shopping of course

A large habit of ours is cafe cruising. Because Copenhagen is filled with beautiful, cosy, unique and amazing cafes we try to hit up a different one almost everyday. The Danes love to socialize in cafes and unfortunately (or not) my consumption of hot chocolate here went from a lot to A LOT! Hot chocolate and anything with carbs in it seem to be what the danish really know how to work...and alcohol, but we won't go there.

As beautiful as Copenhagen is, it is EXTREMELY expensive. Its actually the 7th most expensive city in the entire world (lovely)! And there is no exaggeration here. A cup of coffee (or hot chocolate) costs about 30-40 kroner, which is about $6-8. Most danish meals out are about $25 a plate (at a middle class restaurant). And don't even get me started with the clothes. However if you know where to shop, there are some really nice places with reasonable prices. Like a shoe store we found with these beeautiful shoes that all happen to be under $40...fun place. Going out here can also be very pricey. Some bars charge a $15-25 cover charge :s.. but my friends and I try to steer clear of those ones unless its a special occasion.

This weekend we some how by chance stumbled upon one of the main bar streets in Copenhagen. A street filled with your typical european bars that are jammed packed with young students smoking, drinking and being awesome haha. This is where the danes go out. Walking into bars here there is no english, but most danes are friendly enough to approach you and converse in english and take you around to different bars with them. It's very easy to make friends here.

A majorly interesting part of Copenhagen is a place called Christinia. I've mentioned it before but never really explained what it is. I may butcher this but let me try to fill you in...Christiania is some what of a social experiment from which the government allocated a block of land (34 acres) in Copenhagen to (basically) a group of hippies and let them form their own rules and regulations. It is a "socialist anarchic sanctuary where everyone who lives there can determine what happens" (woo go wikipedia). This little fenced in community happens to be Copenhagen's second largest tourist attraction, mainly because on this land, smoking and selling weed is actually legal. People from all over flock to this area to buy weed from the stands that line the teeny streets running through it. In the winter time it seems like a dodgy place with all the gloom and big men walking around with guard dogs, but it is actually a beautiful area. In the summer there are even concerts and parties that go on in the streets. I would love to show everyone pictures except for the fact that picture taking is not allowed here, they would seriously smash my camera if I tried.

Michelle and Cate salsa dancing

Last night was my friend Cate's birthday so we all went out for dinner. Unfortunately in Denmark everything is closed on Sundays so the only restaurant we could find online that was open was a place called Pussy Galore. Ya. But it turned out this was actually a very classy restaurant (despite the inital, obvious first thought). And we ordered pitchers of sangria and expensive danish food to celebrate Cate's big day. Cate is from Vancouver but is orginally from Colombia so we forced her to dance salsa for us after dinner with a few others.

Anyways this week we all have our language course finals so we're studying away for the rest of the week.. or like me and procrastinating by writing a blog...To celebrate being finished, we're in the midst of planning a weekend trip to Sweden :), and then my reeal classes start next week, back to good ol economics in Denmark.