After Katie left on Sunday morning, I spent the whole day resting - homework, gossip girl, food, etc.
Monday was the usual - cycle, Danish, homework, eat, party! Last night was Valentina's (Italian girl from my Danish class) birthday at Keops Kollegium. We had homemade spaghetti and tirumisu - DELICIOUS! And quite a few beers, and cycling home through the pouring rain on the newly resurfaced bike lanes of Norrebrogade. Got home to find Maria, Rune and Simon hanging out and dancing to Danish records. I had a go at translating the Danish and had the most delightful conversation with Maria, in which she included that I can stay here all summer if I so wish!! and that she doesn't know how they will ever find anyone who can live with Simon again! Hahaha. Went to bed happy happy happy. Then up this morning, cycle to class, learning, lunch, tour of the Royal Library/Black Diamond, which was pretty fricking cool. This afternoon has included me struggling with my homework and making a breakthrough, and receiving an offer from Surrey University for campus accommodation for next year! I feel like life is good right now. Drinking a shandy. Listening to the Flaming Lips. Knitting.
'This is my favourite day in recent history' - Katy Evans 18/01/11
Tuesday 18 January 2011
Saturday 15 January 2011
Huske Mit Navn
Sunday I did my Danish hjemmearbejde (homework) and slept and hung with the housemates. Then Matt came round and we went to blockbuster and watched the Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary and got really weirded out.
On Monday I cycled down to KUA for mit danskklasse, lovely fun as always, really learning a lot and think trying the accent is pretty funny. After that I cycled to town to run a few errands. Then went home and went for a walk that ended with me going back into town, then back home for sleep. The next day the same things occured, and in the evening me and Matt tried to go ice-skating but as the God's of fate have ruled recently, we were prevented from realising our true potential on ice. So drinks instead.
By Wednesday, my legs had had enough of this cycling for hours a day nonsense so I was lazy and got the metro to danish class. Raced home afterwards to do my homework in 30 minutes, then off to Norreport and on to Hellerup for tutoring gig, then quickly back home for food and then to Amager to a friends. Still managed to be 30 minutes late. Had some lovely drinks and in depth talks with Hannah (American) and Nadine (German) and then me and Nadine headed to the International Cafe at Studenterhuset in town. Danced like a crazy person and then walked the 40 minutes home at 2am. Getting up for class on Thursday was quite the struggle, but I managed, and was only 30 minutes late. After all that Danish shiz and 2 large coffees, I went to Norreport and met Katie McManus. I freaking love having visitors and telling them all the wonderful things about Kobenhavn. We went back to mine for Italian sandwiches and then back into town for strolling and talking. Friday I ran off to class and met Katie afterwards for lunch, that night we watched RECOUNT, a film you should all watch.
Saturday was my first chance to properly sleep in quite a while so we took full advantage. Then we had lunch, I had the massivist sandwich there has ever been. I will UPLOAD the photo soon. Then we shopped or attempted to.
On Monday I cycled down to KUA for mit danskklasse, lovely fun as always, really learning a lot and think trying the accent is pretty funny. After that I cycled to town to run a few errands. Then went home and went for a walk that ended with me going back into town, then back home for sleep. The next day the same things occured, and in the evening me and Matt tried to go ice-skating but as the God's of fate have ruled recently, we were prevented from realising our true potential on ice. So drinks instead.
By Wednesday, my legs had had enough of this cycling for hours a day nonsense so I was lazy and got the metro to danish class. Raced home afterwards to do my homework in 30 minutes, then off to Norreport and on to Hellerup for tutoring gig, then quickly back home for food and then to Amager to a friends. Still managed to be 30 minutes late. Had some lovely drinks and in depth talks with Hannah (American) and Nadine (German) and then me and Nadine headed to the International Cafe at Studenterhuset in town. Danced like a crazy person and then walked the 40 minutes home at 2am. Getting up for class on Thursday was quite the struggle, but I managed, and was only 30 minutes late. After all that Danish shiz and 2 large coffees, I went to Norreport and met Katie McManus. I freaking love having visitors and telling them all the wonderful things about Kobenhavn. We went back to mine for Italian sandwiches and then back into town for strolling and talking. Friday I ran off to class and met Katie afterwards for lunch, that night we watched RECOUNT, a film you should all watch.
Saturday was my first chance to properly sleep in quite a while so we took full advantage. Then we had lunch, I had the massivist sandwich there has ever been. I will UPLOAD the photo soon. Then we shopped or attempted to.
Saturday 8 January 2011
Jeg hedder Katy. Hvad med dig?
I can totally speak Danish now.
Wednesday morning was killer, up at 7am, on the bike by 8.15am and sitting in the lecture theatre for INTRODUCTION TO DANISH at 8.55am. After the Introduction Session we split off into our smaller classes. Mine is alright, about 9 Americans, me, 2 Italians, 2 Germans and a few others. One of them studies Political Science which is cool. We actually learnt quite a lot in about 2 hours and it was pretty fun.
It snowed ferociously all through Wednesday night so I couldn't really cycle the 30 mins to KUA, and it appeared neither could anyone. The metro was a nightmare, but I eventually got to class only about 10/15 minutes late. Lots more learnt again, but at the back of my mind all the time was my essay deadline the following day so I cycled straight home and worked on that all afternoon and into the evening, finally deciding I had done as much as I could do and going to bed at 2am.
Friday started nicely enough, up at quarter to 8 and straight into CSS (city campus) to print my 10 page essay and hand it in. Went smoothly enough as can be expected. I was aiming for a maximum of an hour late to Danish class. Then I got a flat tyre. Absolute nightmare, was ages from any station, my bike completely unridable, so I walked up to Kongens Nytorv and took my bike to class on the metro. An hour and a half late for class, and flustered, we learnt 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes' in Danish which was pretty fun. After class went off to find a bike shop to pump up my tyres. In an unfamiliar part of town, walked in entirely the wrong direction and eventually got to a shop where the man changed my inner immediately for 120 DKK.
Cycled back into town, but missed the Danish class afternoon ice-skating (ie. friend-making activity) Booo. Met up with Matt who told me he got bitten by a dog in Bulgaria. Then I made lots of Rabies jokes, and generally had a lovely time.
Today has been lovely, a lie-in even though I wasn't up all night. I took my books from my essay-writing back to the library which was indescribably tainted by my wonderful, glorious, 'best-mittens-in-the-world' mittens falling out of my pocket as I cycled. Retraced my cycling but could not see them. Am very sad.
I've been watching a lot of cycling videos like this one, I had become blasé about it, but Copenhagen is pretty spectacular.
Wednesday morning was killer, up at 7am, on the bike by 8.15am and sitting in the lecture theatre for INTRODUCTION TO DANISH at 8.55am. After the Introduction Session we split off into our smaller classes. Mine is alright, about 9 Americans, me, 2 Italians, 2 Germans and a few others. One of them studies Political Science which is cool. We actually learnt quite a lot in about 2 hours and it was pretty fun.
It snowed ferociously all through Wednesday night so I couldn't really cycle the 30 mins to KUA, and it appeared neither could anyone. The metro was a nightmare, but I eventually got to class only about 10/15 minutes late. Lots more learnt again, but at the back of my mind all the time was my essay deadline the following day so I cycled straight home and worked on that all afternoon and into the evening, finally deciding I had done as much as I could do and going to bed at 2am.
Friday started nicely enough, up at quarter to 8 and straight into CSS (city campus) to print my 10 page essay and hand it in. Went smoothly enough as can be expected. I was aiming for a maximum of an hour late to Danish class. Then I got a flat tyre. Absolute nightmare, was ages from any station, my bike completely unridable, so I walked up to Kongens Nytorv and took my bike to class on the metro. An hour and a half late for class, and flustered, we learnt 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes' in Danish which was pretty fun. After class went off to find a bike shop to pump up my tyres. In an unfamiliar part of town, walked in entirely the wrong direction and eventually got to a shop where the man changed my inner immediately for 120 DKK.
Cycled back into town, but missed the Danish class afternoon ice-skating (ie. friend-making activity) Booo. Met up with Matt who told me he got bitten by a dog in Bulgaria. Then I made lots of Rabies jokes, and generally had a lovely time.
Today has been lovely, a lie-in even though I wasn't up all night. I took my books from my essay-writing back to the library which was indescribably tainted by my wonderful, glorious, 'best-mittens-in-the-world' mittens falling out of my pocket as I cycled. Retraced my cycling but could not see them. Am very sad.
I've been watching a lot of cycling videos like this one, I had become blasé about it, but Copenhagen is pretty spectacular.
Tuesday 4 January 2011
Massive beers, Techno clubs and Frozen beaches
My pal since childhood Tanya arrived in Denmark on the morning of New Years Eve. I cycled to the metro and metroed to the end of the line to wait in arrivals. She was slightly delayed but not much so we had plenty of day left to enjoy Denmark in its freezing and foggy state. I took her back to see my apartment and do a Danish supermarket sweep, then we got the metro to Norreport and I showed her my campus (CSS) and the beautiful frozen lakes.
We saw people avoiding the bridges in between the lakes and striding straight over the ice but were a bit worried of disaster striking and falling to our icy deaths. Then we saw two little boys with fireworks running across the ice and manned up.
We then crossed the lake ourselves and went home to rest up for the night ahead. Tanya started watching a film called Enchanted, and I wanted to kill myself, worst thing I've ever half-watched. Then we 'got ready' girl style and started on some Rum. Matt came round to give me back my guitar and catch-up and then left us again. We eventually realised that we weren't even gonna make it to the city centre for the big moment so rushed off, bumped into Matt and his friends and celebrated the New Year as we ran down Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard towards the fireworks at City Hall Square. Fireworks had been being set off since about midday and it was insane at night. There was an official display but everyone had their own fireworks that they held as they exploded, shoved in peoples faces and generally gave little regard for health and safety regulations. One small boy tossed a lit firework right into my path, genuinely got the fright of my life.
After the countdown, the insane fireworks (that did not stop until it got light) and a swig from a massive Christmas beer, we went back to Norrebro to a student flat for a while and then back into town to Culture Box to have a little dance.
Saturday 1st January 2011 was a beautiful day and eventually Tanya and myself dragged ourselves out of my apartment to have a walk around Norrebro, we ended up walking around for 2 hours solid. Back to mine for pizza, chips and watching crap on TV before conking out again.
On Sunday we were wonderfully refreshed and went down to Amager to a flea market in Den Bla Hal (The Blue Hall) which was just crazy big and rammed full of a mixture of wonderful (organs, carved wooden tables, and pretty china plates) and just plain weird goods (a pack of Tena lady pads, a stuffed fox and a vast array of horror films). We then walked 5 minutes to the beach of Amager which was spectacularly beautiful in the sun. A man was making an ice sculpture of massive slabs of ice on the sea shore.
Heading back into the city, we had traditional 'street' danish hotdogs for lunch. Yummy but way too mustardy. Here is Tanya with hers.
Then walked over to Nyhavn and saw a beautiful sky above the city and a frozen harbour surrounding this part of the city.
Feeling the chill a little, we walked to The Moose and had some beers in its grubby surroundings and the jukebox was actually playing the most perfect wintry Sunday afternoon music. Submitted to McDonalds for dinner and enjoyed their mega-chilled soundtrack of Gabrielle and Texas.
Monday we headed to the central shopping streets to see what Danish shops had to offer us and revisit the scene of the NYE firework danger zone. Then we went down to Christiania and Tanya was full of questions about how such a place existed which I didn't know the answers to. We had a cup of tea and then went for a walk deep into Christiania, away from the smoking and cafe areas, to the wooden houses and incredibly frozen lake.
This is the lake at Christiania which is huge but completely frozen apart from this tiny section so all the ducks had congregated in this area and they were finding it mighty difficult to climb the icy sides of their paddling pool and kept falling back in. Ducking crazy. We then headed back to Norreport to have a delicious half-price dinner at Dalle Valle. Then Floss for a few beers.
On Tuesday we had an incredibly lazy morning, still in bed at 2pm. Then up and out to the Danish National Gallery (SMK) followed by a second night with dinner at Dalle Valle. I should be ashamed but as it is half-price it's like we only ate there one night. Then raced back to mine for Tanya to grab her bag and leave immediately for the airport.
All in all, a wonderful weekend with a wonderful friend. Many uncontrollable laughing fits, deep conversations and lots of slipping on ice.
We saw people avoiding the bridges in between the lakes and striding straight over the ice but were a bit worried of disaster striking and falling to our icy deaths. Then we saw two little boys with fireworks running across the ice and manned up.
These 10-year old boys were setting off fireworks at 3pm on the frozen lake with no adult supervision.
We then crossed the lake ourselves and went home to rest up for the night ahead. Tanya started watching a film called Enchanted, and I wanted to kill myself, worst thing I've ever half-watched. Then we 'got ready' girl style and started on some Rum. Matt came round to give me back my guitar and catch-up and then left us again. We eventually realised that we weren't even gonna make it to the city centre for the big moment so rushed off, bumped into Matt and his friends and celebrated the New Year as we ran down Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard towards the fireworks at City Hall Square. Fireworks had been being set off since about midday and it was insane at night. There was an official display but everyone had their own fireworks that they held as they exploded, shoved in peoples faces and generally gave little regard for health and safety regulations. One small boy tossed a lit firework right into my path, genuinely got the fright of my life.
Saturday 1st January 2011 was a beautiful day and eventually Tanya and myself dragged ourselves out of my apartment to have a walk around Norrebro, we ended up walking around for 2 hours solid. Back to mine for pizza, chips and watching crap on TV before conking out again.
On Sunday we were wonderfully refreshed and went down to Amager to a flea market in Den Bla Hal (The Blue Hall) which was just crazy big and rammed full of a mixture of wonderful (organs, carved wooden tables, and pretty china plates) and just plain weird goods (a pack of Tena lady pads, a stuffed fox and a vast array of horror films). We then walked 5 minutes to the beach of Amager which was spectacularly beautiful in the sun. A man was making an ice sculpture of massive slabs of ice on the sea shore.
Monday we headed to the central shopping streets to see what Danish shops had to offer us and revisit the scene of the NYE firework danger zone. Then we went down to Christiania and Tanya was full of questions about how such a place existed which I didn't know the answers to. We had a cup of tea and then went for a walk deep into Christiania, away from the smoking and cafe areas, to the wooden houses and incredibly frozen lake.
On Tuesday we had an incredibly lazy morning, still in bed at 2pm. Then up and out to the Danish National Gallery (SMK) followed by a second night with dinner at Dalle Valle. I should be ashamed but as it is half-price it's like we only ate there one night. Then raced back to mine for Tanya to grab her bag and leave immediately for the airport.
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