I går var det min fødselsdag

So W, T, F and S were study study study, apart from open mic on Thursday night to relax, and then I got peer-pressured into a short trip to Drone.  As always.
I was working hard so that I could take Sunday, my 21st birthday off from work.

On Saturday night I wanted to go and see this band play at Drone, so last minute I recruited Sam and Charlotte to come along.  We arrived earlyish and to our delight because the gig was an album release party there was free beer and champagne, so we got stuck into that.  It was a lovely atmosphere and the band were even better live and the DJing after the gig was lovely, right up my street and they played Under My Thumb by the Stones and I smiled.  When the clock chimed 12, Sam and Charlotte sang Happy Birthday at my face, and some Danish strangers joined in.  Overall, an overwhelmingly fun and trouble-free evening.  Then when I awoke it was my birthday for real, started it off with a bowl of coco pops (birthday breakfast) and opening my cards, which was so lovely.

Recieved a facebook notification during the morning that had this attached to it -

These are some of my Copenhagen friends singing me the Danish birthday song. I'm not gonna beat around the bush, I was extremely touched, and I did cry.  For those of you who are regular readers (ie. Mummy, Granny and Auntie Judy) here are some faces to names.  In order - American Sam, Australian Charlotte, Austrian Berny, German Nadine, American Hannah and Australian Elisabeth.

So I had a little party - we drank Shandys, we listened to music, we had discussions, we stayed inside (a storm hit CPH).  It was so nice, in a not-very-special way, which is how I generally like it.  Then it was cake time.  Lis and Nadine had baked for 4 whole hours to make me this cake - a rubiks cube!

 Everyone here at the party had a piece and there was still a large amount of cake, so it has been frozen so I don't eat it all.

 These are my cards.  Thank you everyone.

Then it was present time which was wonderful.  Thank you to Maxime and Lorelei for the perfume.  And thanks to the video gang for this wonderful flower (now sat on my balcony), a summer hat (which I have been talking about for ages), and a new bike bell which I will add a photo of as soon as possible.

Birthday was good.
Tak for fødselsdag.

Now back to the daily grind of essay writing. :-(

Procrastination Nation

Let me stretch my mind to its outer limits and recall what happened nearly 14 days ago.

On Thursday I studied with Sam at Cafe Retro and then we had dinner at hers and watched The Wild Thornberrys, which is so my whole childhood, I love it.  It was also this fateful day that I found out that  I did not get the job this summer in Ameerica. BOOOOO.

Can't really remember what happened during the day on Friday, apart from the incoming UK election results which were ridiculously bad, its like no one in Britain has a brain or something.  But at night, we went to this Jagermeister Warehouse Party and saw a cool band called 'Reptile and Retard'  - the singer was actual crazy.  That was quite a late one, I cycled home as the sun rose, and tried to stop drunk cyclists killing me.
Saturday I recovered by sleeping and then met  Charlotte and Sam for Blaagaardsgade street party. First we met some crazies who were crazy and one of them told me he had slept for 2 hours the night before and then asked me if I'd ever watched 'the Big Bang Theory' twice in 60 seconds.  Strange.  Anyway, we managed to lose him.  Blaagaardsgade is a pedestrianised street in Norrebro that has lots of nice cafes and bookshops and bars and musical instrument shops and a big square with a football pitch for the neighbourhood kids.  On this fateful Saturday there were portaloos and music tents and beer for sale and all good things.  We met Hannah and Nadine there as well as a Danish man who I said 'you are Danish and you have dreadlocks' to.  Simple.  Still the music was way varied and good, and the vibes were stonking.  At the beginning of June is DISTORTION festival which is 5 days of these street parties, so it got us all hyped up for that extravaganza.  We headed from that party around 10/11pm to Tietgen Kollegium for a party, but left at 1/2am to go to DRONE.  That was good and we ended up leaving when it closed and getting a tasty falafel feast for breakfast across the road.  By the time I went home it was fully daylight.

So more sleep occured.
Then on Monday I had my last Philosophy class, followed by my last Dansk class.  I was sad to leave Danish behind, but the class was lovely and fun.  And Einar asked me who I thought the most beautiful man in the world was  - in reply my face went bright red and all male names ever left my brain.  Very embarrassing.  Then I had to do the backtrack where you have to let people know that you know that you are bright red. Gaaaahhh.
Tuesday was just Africa class (but a special one which was the inspiration for my final year dissertation topic) and then the ceremonial cleaning of the stairs in my building.

So then Wednesday was one of those lovely days when I get to go and collect a visitor from the airport/train - Lucy Doggett had arrived.  I went and picked her up and then we actually caught-up for 4 hours straight before she decided a little nap was in order, and I decided that I should do some work for my pending Danish written exam in the evening.  Thought it went pretty well, but was sad, sad, sad - Danish class was over.  Returned home to hear Lucy had gone for an evening walk and had already covered the whole central area of Copenhagen - ON FOOT - I was very impressed.

We started checking things of Lucy's 'Copenhagen List' on Thursday - with my 3rd climb of the tower in Christianshavn, and a trip round Christiania.  In the evening we went to open mic night at Cafe Retro and many many people showed up.  On Friday we did some bits and pieces in the town centre and a boat tour of the city, and then I went home and managed to fall asleep fully clothed.  Which meant I was well-equipped to go to Fredagsbar and Drone - at Drone we met some men and I told one of them that he was a Squib.  And if you don't know what a Squib is, please read Harry Potter.  I slept in on Saturday while Lucy went exploring, and we met in town later to go to Christiania.  We met Sam, Charlotte and Sams sister there, but then it decided to rain. And thunder.  And be the wettest Denmark has ever been.  We cycled back to Sams, but it was too late, everything I was wearing was soaked through.  So we decided to buy food and stay at Sams to watch the Eurovision Song Contest.  Was good wasn't it?  Haha.  Moldova was definitely the best.  They had hats, trumpets AND a unicycle.  On Sunday we went to see the changing of the guard at the Queens home, Amelianborg Palace, then me and Lucy took a Parliament tour.  Then I went home to sort my life out, while Lucy stayed out.  On Monday we had a skype meeting with our lecturer Maxine, from Surrey about final year scary things.  Then I waved Lucy farewell as she skipped off to Sweden for the day.  And I tried to knuckle down for my Danish oral exam.  Which I then had.  And now Danish is properly over, and I am very sad.  In my exam I told my teacher Einar all about Bear Grylls.  Afterwards, we all cycled across the whole city to Norrebro and had the best falafel ever.  Then we went to mine.

Yesterday was sleepy, after the high stress levels of exams, then my African Studies class - MY LAST CLASS AT KU - then a quick drink at Retro with Sam and a cleaning the stairs marathon.

And today, here is a list of things I have done rather than work on my philosophy essay -

• i have vac'ed Simons room, living room, kitchen and hallway
• i have got all my shit out of Simons room and put my sleeping bag on the balcony to air 
• i have collected all my things from these 3 rooms and started to put them all back where they belong 
• i have done a massive load of washing up, so there is only a little bit left to do
• i have sent some useful emails and almost caught up on my blog
• i have put towels and tea towels in to wash

Lay Down That Boogie, and Play That Funky Music Tonight

Easter Sunday and Monday I had the most un-Eastery time ever. Even though the weather was great, Frederiksberg was dead - so I stayed home and studied, punctuating this which long periods on  my balcony in the sun.

Tuesday bought the recommencement of the university semester, and the reality of reality into my foreground.
As far as I can remember, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty uneventful days - classes, chores, life.

AND THEN.... I went home after Dansk class on Wednesday night, only to walk back up to the metro station 20 minutes later - TO PICK UP MY MUMMY!  She hasn't been here since the beginning of November, and I have seen her for a couple of hours since Christmas.  Since Simon has moved out - Mummy stayed at mine.  I love it when people visit, as I actually DO stuff.

So on Thursday we went to the tower in Christianshavn that I went to with Phoebe.  We climbed on up and this time I got some pictures of the view.

Afterwards we had lunch at a nearby bakery -  and we saw these cakes for sale - REEEEEDICULOUS.

Then my mother wanted to go to Christiania and then it all went wrong.  Christiania was closed.  Recently the Danish government have won this land,  that was settled on by hippies in the 70s, back in court.  Legally, the residents of Christiania are now squatters.

"Christiania will be temporarily closed until further notice, in order that we can gain some peace and quiet to think, and to draw attention to the fact that (y)our Christiania is under enormous pressure.
We have used 40 years to create one of Denmark’s biggest tourist attractions, and have, with our own time and money, developed and nurtured a culture- and recreation space that is enjoyed by thousands of Danes every day. We pay for our water and electricity, we run our own childcare institutions, we look after the roads and sewers, and we pay property taxes for the area.
We have tried to negotiate a legalization that will protect the qualities that we are proud of.
We believe that the ultimatum issued by the Danish government about dividing up Christiania and selling off parts of the land will mean the destruction of the open, self-managed, experimental and socially inclusive Christiania as we know it.
We are taking a break and ask you who use, enjoy and support Denmark's Free State, to respect our closing.
If you're fed up that you cannot get to enjoy your Chriatiania, go to Politiken, Jyllands Posten, Berlingske and all the other newspapers' websites and comment on the articles being written about the closure. Join the facebook group Your Christiania and write to your politicians about why you think Christiania should be preserved.
We hope you will join us in our attempts to find a way through law, economics, and bureaucracy - a way which ensures that the creative and spontaneous Christiania lives on.
We are closing to avoid closure."

-  http://www.spirehuset.net/Christiania-closed

After Mum left on Saturday I heard that it had re-opened.  But since then I have read that it is still closed.

So we went on down to the beach at Amager.  A walk along the shore, and watching Danish men kite-surf.

Then Mama went home, and I went to JAM JAM JAM at Kommunen.  The music had been moved outside due to a case of rats in our campus cafe but it was awesome.  Funky funky music, cheap cheap beer, fun fun table football, lots and lots of Danes.  I had intended to go home after this, but ended up dancing in Drone for 2 hours.  THEEEN I went home and woke up just in time to watch 4 HOURS!!!! of the Royal Wedding.
That afternoon Mum went out to explore, and I stayed home to make a deadline for one of my classes.  We met for dinner at Cafe Paludan, which was wonderful.  Good food, good music, good company. (And mother paid.)

So on Saturday we wanted to make the most of our last day together and went on a trip North of Copenhagen to Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.  It was glorious weather, and the museum is housed in lots of wood and glass, so we got plenty of sun.  The museum is also right beside the sea and you can see Sweden from the sculpture garden.  Here is some of the stuff we saw:

 I thought this (above) looked like a map of the world.

We returned to Copenhagen in time for last minute packing and goodbye.  Goodbye Mummy.
Then it was off to Sam's for her belated Birthday Party.  Had a lovely time and drank a lot of wine.  We eventually left at about 4am to go into town.  Here is Sam with some weird German dude.

But soon after, I grew hungry for sleep.  So I cycled home and took pictures of DAWN.

On Sunday I got up ridiculously early, after 4 hours sleep, and proceeded to waste my morning, neither doing anything nor sleeping.  I met my friends in Norrebro because it was Labour Day - and there were big gatherings in the city parks to celebrate.  We went up to Faelledparken and what we encountered was stunning.  Thousands upon thousands of people, music pumping from numerous areas, fireworks, beer, a very festival-like quality.  But then the clouds looked full of water, so we left.  I most definitely needed a nap before going to Vega to see my love Sufjan Stevens.  Which was bloody amazing.  More epic than I expected, he is such a wonderful man.  And he played my favourite song in the encore.
Here is someones elses video of what went down - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkJnDERsXg4

I spent Monday morning asleep as during the concert I was finding it hard to stand up.  Then I had my philosophy class which I understood literally 0% of.  And then Dansk, as per usual.
And the last 2 days I have been in an unexplainable bad mood so have been avoiding seeing any people.  Tuesday I literally had to force myself to leave my apartment even though I knew my African Studies class was gonna be top notch.  And it was.  And then yesterday I did my new cleaning job which is such a massive workout and then went to Danish class - where I had forgotten everything I have ever learnt, and Einar asked me questions and I just stared at him blankly.  Horrendousness.  Hope it was just a bad day, as the exam is next week.