For Lis - 'Getting Lost is not a Waste of Time'

Ok.  I will now admit how utterly shit I have been at this blog this semester, my second in København.  After 7 weeks of forgetting and not being bothered, and my mother asking me whether I have been doing anything at all with my life, I will now try to summarize the last 2 months, its been a crazy time, and I wont be able to remember much.  As David Bowie once sang,

Time may change me, but you can't trace time.

February  mainly revolved around making new 2nd semester friends (of which there are few, haha) and doing lots of 2nd semester work (of which there is lots).  I properly started my classes - which include Danish evening classes twice a week, a Philosophy class, a Political Science class, and an African Studies class.  My favourite by quite a lot is the Danish language course, even though classes finish at 9.30pm!!!  But having never really learnt a foreign language properly, I find it very interesting, and much more so when you can start using it a bit day to day, especially having little conversations with drunk Danish people.  And the content of the African Studies class (Conflicts in Africa - lectured by a hero, Bjørn Møller) has sparked my thought processes concerning final year dissertation and the possibility of continuing my education after graduation from Surrey.

In February, my friends and I also discovered some amazing new places to hang out in the city.  Cafe Retro is an amazingly hygge cafe 60 seconds walk from Sams front door.  Their website says,

At our place, you can drop down into big comfy sofas while enjoying the art on display and the fact that your bartender is a voluntary worker. In the mean time, we send our profit to India and Africa.

They make lovely drinks, at discounted student prices, they have live music at the weekends and an open mic night on Thursdays.  I went there with Sam for Earth Hour on 26th March, and there were candles and a band with a saxophonist. Blissful.

We also discovered DRONE, a bar 5 minutes cycle from MY front door.  Drone is free entrance, open 9pm to 5am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  Thursday is band night.  DJs play Talking Heads, David Bowie and obscure alternative tracks from the 50s/60s/70s and sometimes 80s/90s.  Beers are £2.50, mixed drinks are £6.50.  The barmen all have mammoth beards.  The toilets don't all have doors or lights or toilet seats.  And the clientele are astonishingly good-looking.  HEAVEN ON EARTH FOR SURE.

We have also been down to the meat-packing district more often to party. And of course the CSS Fredagsbar.

So apart from these things, and just chillin with the new buds - there have been a few special events.  Which I will now tell you about.

• In February I went on a Political Science sponsored Cabin Trip on the north coast of Sjælland.  Main events included walking on an icy beach, watching the sunset, peeling apples, drinking games, beating people at backgammon and meeting some new friends.  My Danish friend Emma was here for one night as she was an organiser, and we had such a lovely time.  However, the cabins were very draughty and I had to sleep wearing all my clothes.  I arrived back in Copenhagen on the Sunday, severely underslept with a 3 day hangover, but managed to make myself stay up with friends and watch the Oscars (finishing at around 6am CPH time), what a waste.  So it took me about a week to recover.

• Me, Sam and Elisabeth used the first Sunday of April to use the free trains to get out of the city and into a cute Danish town, northwards, called Hillerød.  We took our bikes, and looked around the massive Frederiksborg Slot (castle) and rode through the Scandinavian woods and beside lakes, in the brightest sunshine.  It was actually almost my most perfect day ever. [These photos must be credited to Sam Rick and Elisabeth Paul, as I forgot my camera that day.]

• Last weekend the clocks went forward, which means that by June, Copenhagen will be light from about 4.30am until 10pm!  But before all that went down, I had to manage a manic night of parties.  First, me and Sam did Earth Hour at Cafe Retro (as explained above).  Then I caught the metro (!!!) down to Amagerbro to Max and Lorelei's house party.  I went as a Frenchman, and had a moustache. Had a lovely time there, tried to play darts, but I think the wine had gone to my head.  Then me and Nadine left, to go to CSS årsfest (my uni campus, årsfest means 'party of the year').  It was sooo manic, soo full, soo big with extra rooms with different themes for music and drinks.  Had a great time and there were relatively few International students there, which I always appreciate.  Cycled home, the most drunk I have ever cycled, but I made it, and fell asleep at nearly 6am.

And since all these shenanigans, I have been studying, hanging out by the water (harbourside/canals) in the sunshine, yesterday I met Lis at the Black Diamond, and then we cycled in the 15 degree heat over to Christianshavn, MY COAT AND SCARF WERE IN MY BASKET AND MY SLEEVES WERE ROLLED UP.  I am insanely excited for May, and possibly June here in the most perfect place in the world.