So, these last few days have definitely been worth the wait. I have been waiting since the day I arrived in Copenhagen for the final weeks after we finished the study tour. I knew we would only have class Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30-12:30, leaving a lot of free time. And boy, do I love free time.

Last I wrote, I believe I was getting ready to go out on my first Saturday night back in Copenhagen, so I will start where I left off.

After I posted my last blog, I left to go out to dinner for the other Bri's birthday at Hard Rock Café (so clichely American, I know) but it was actually really delicious. My friend Rachel and I split a pulled pork sandwich (it is MUCH more expensive than any Hard Rock Café I have ever been to, so all the girls split meals there). The manager was also super awesome and gave Bri a free birthday shake while she was being serenaded by the waitress, and he gave our whole table (12 people) delicious FREE shots that tasted like candy.

After dinner, we headed back to some of the housing that's near the school and played some weird drinking game where you just count but all the numbers mean something and you have to remember and if you get to say number 21, then you make a new rule. When I was the lucky number 21, my rule was that you have to sing a Britney Spears lyric every time you say a certain number. The group definitely had some fun with that one. Eventually, we all headed our separate ways but most of us made our way to the meat packing district, which is apparently the hipster bar scene. We went to a small dive bar called Jolene's which is apparently really popular, but it was just cramped, sweaty, hot and they played music very comparable to tacky elevator music so we all left. We just wandered the streets looking for somewhere else to go until we stumbled upon a place called Billy Booze. It advertised cheap alcohol on the outside, so naturally it was extremely enticing to a bunch of broke college kids. The drinks were indeed cheap, and we ended up staying there until approximately 5 in the morning when the sun had already completely risen. It's basically like living in Alaska here, because the sun never really goes down but apparently it is darker than Justin Bieber's soul here in the winter.

After sleeping for a few hours, we woke up to spend an absolutely beautiful day at the beach. A large group of DIS kids all met there and I spent most of my day there until I decided to go back to one of the kollegiums (a kollegium is Danish university housing that serves all the universities in Copenhagen-- they're located all throughout the city) where some DIS people live and had a cookout. My two friends and I bought sausage and wrapped it in bacon with cheese and made sliced potatoes and some of the other kids made chicken and salmon (~* sO FaNcY *~). The kollegium housing was beautiful, with the same Ikea furniture that we have in the DIS housing, except their rooms are way bigger and they have a court yard and an awesome rooftop patio where the grill was with a beautiful view of the city. I wish my housing had an outdoor area so bad. After a few hours hanging out, I made my way home and fell asleep.


Monday, I woke up and came to class where we finished our presentations for today (Wednesday). After class, I finally got a new bike (so EXCITING) after my first one was stolen. I found out another girl in my hall had her bike stolen outside our building the same night I did. Apparently people drive around in vans and throw bikes with the types of locks we had in and use the frames, plus we don't live in the best part of Copenhagen. Although, I am pretty sure the bad parts of Copenhagen are nowhere near bad parts of American cities and we don't live in a totally crappy area, but definitely not the best either. I also convinced my friend Morgan to get a bike too and we had the joy of riding our bikes home from the shop in the rain, but I was just glad to have my bike back. I also got two locks, so ain't nobody gon' be stealin' my bike no more. Monday night, since we didn't have class Tuesday, my friends and I decided to go out. We went to our other friends' housing, which is even nicer than the kollegium. Their floor is supposed to have 8 kids, but they only have 3 so they have a ton of space to themselves. It has not only Ikea furniture but also awesome Ikea light fixtures, their own living room and a huge kitchen that could totally be featured on like a Danish chef show or something, as well as big bathrooms and a nice courtyard. Oh, and its like 5 mins from school. So, basically I am really jealous. But we played some card games in their courtyard for a long time which was very fun then decided to meet some other friends from our study tour at a Scottish Pub, where I decided I actually like whiskey and I was able to take straight shots of it with no chaser, so basically I am a super cool human being. I know. After that pub closed (yes, we closed down the pub but it was a Monday night), we went back to the study tour friends' private apartment (they chose to rent independently of DIS) until 5 am where I ate an entire package of hummus. I also fell off my bike (not drunk biking, just very uncoordinated) and scraped my toe and bruised my ribs but it was pretty funny.

The next day (Tuesday), Rachel, Morgan and I all woke up early and spent the day at the beach. The weather here in Copenhagen has been abnormally hot this week (a whopping 80 degrees on Tuesday) so it has been wonderful outdoors weather. We spent the whole day at the beach, where I somehow got a sunburn on my back but not my front even though I laid on my back more than I did on my stomach, so apparently I need to let my back see the sun more often so that it doesn't betray me like this. I did learn how to play Euchre though, so I can finally say I am a true Hoosier. After the beach, we went down to the canal to watch the Germany vs Brazil game on the big screen. We got there an hour early and still couldn't get a seat because it was ridiculously packed. We ended up standing in the back of the crowd, where I couldn't see the screen at all (#shortpeopleproblems) so my friends were giving me some play by plays although they didn't have to say anything when the entire crowd start cheering literally at 30 second intervals when Germany decided to go and just score 5 goals right in a row because YOLO. After the 5th goal, we decided to peace out since none of us could really see and we knew Brazil was not going to have some kind of Cinderella story. When we got home, I finished up my presentation slides for today (Wednesday). We had to present our design concept and research on the harbor farm I talked about in a previous post in front of our class as well as the main architect for the structure, which was slightly nerve racking.

Today (Wednesday), I woke up for class and decided I would wear jeans and a cotton tee shirt because my weather app said it was a high of 70 for the day. I don't normally wear jeans unless its a little warm out, because wearing jeans when its too cold out is like my hell on Earth. Well, my weather app apparently has NO IDEA how to predict Copenhagen weather (I just need to start hugging trees like Pocahontas man told me) and I was sweating more than I would have if I had just ran a back to back marathon in the outback as I rode my bike to class, so that was fun. We did our presentations, which I think I did pretty well on (patting myself on the back). I usually don't get too nervous publicly speaking, but having the architect there made me shake really bad because not only is he slightly intimidating, he is also pretty attractive sooo ya know, at least I didn't start sweating profusely during my presentation or something. Although, that could just be because I probably lost every drip of sweat that I had on my bike ride to class. Class ran late today, so I didn't get home until 2, but as soon as I got home, Rachel, Morgan, and our friend Michelle (Morgan's roommate at University of Oregon) and I went to the canal where the big screen is but also where the harbor bath is. I don't know if I mentioned them in a previous post, but basically since the Copenhagen harbor is so clean, they love to do recreational activities in it now, including swimming. It sort of looks like a pool made out of wood but it has the ocean water in it and it  has like 3 different pools as well as this big stair stepper ledge thing that you can jump off of (I don't know, just google it). My friend Morgan and I jumped off the highest ledge (5 meters/ 15 feet) not only once, but twice. It's pretty scary because you're in the air just a second too long, giving you a split second to regret your decision until you hit the water but its quite exhilarating. I like that being in a new country brings out my adventurous spirit even more!! Maybe I just won't come home ;)

After spending a few hours at the canal, we went back to our friends house who live in the really fancy place (their names are Nick and Tyler) and had a family dinner. It was absolutely the best meal I have eaten here besides the delicious meals from the study tour. Nick made parmesan chicken and pasta, and the rest of us made salad and French fries (they were my contribution--sort of random but delicious nonetheless). It was so cute, and so much fun. We set the table all cute out at a table in the courtyard and were passing the dishes around like a little family. After dinner, we ran to the grocery store and got an absurd amount of desserts, including Toblerone pie, candy, ice cream sandwiches and gelato. We came back home and ate this while we cleaned up and waited for the game to start. We watched the game (well I fell asleep for a little bit) and watched YouTube videos until the game ended. Sadly, for most of the game I was thinking Netherlands (that's who I was rooting for) was the blue team so I was basically cheering for the wrong team the whole time. After the game ended (so sad), Rachel, Morgan and I rode our bikes home and now here I am.

I am excited to start officially working on all the designs in these coming days, but am also very much enjoying my free time in Copenhagen. It looks like I'll get my summer tan after all if this weather keeps up! I am already dreading leaving this wonderful city and the great friends that I have made here, but am also looking forward to finally reuniting with Taco Bell. Oh, and my friends and family, I guess :)

Well, goodnight and thanks for reading this pretentiously long blog post.

--Bean