Chill & Nice Weekend

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I'm wearing a lot of green today and I feel very strongly that this post needs to be in green. 

This weekend, I had wide open and was planning to travel or do something but it was too last minute to plan things and it didn't work out. 

Friday, I went to Miaja's birthday party and danced the night away. :-)

Saturday, we had dinner at Yen and Yeni's. Yen is best friends with Ulrik and Yeni is best friends with Gitte. They have two children who are friends with Signe. How perfect? 

Today we went to Frederiksborg Castle. 

It's a really cool castle, where the Queen goes to on her summer holiday. There were so many paintings there and because it was built by Christian the 4th in the Roco period, everything was very ornately decorated. 

Before the castle, we ate a glorious breakfast of pastries, bread, eggs (made by me), bacon, coffee, and juice. I loved every second of breakfast. After the castle, we had herring! I love all fish, especially that one. We had it on rye bread with other various spreads similar to herring. Yum. 

It was a nice lazy weekend. I treated myself to an episode of Parks and Recreation and watching the Lizzie McGuire movie (I wanted to recognize the places in Rome she went).

This is the church inside the castle. It's still used today. 

The room when you first walk into the castle. You can see a lot of animals here because the castle was used for hunting. 

Creative way to display antlers. 

What a tiny bed! 

The swan is the national bird of Denmark and they were looking for food in the water around the castle. 

The famous postcard image of the queen, her son, and grandson. I bought a postcard of this painting. Fun fact: The queen is a chain smoker.  

Me! In the ballroom, in front of a fake dinner party. 

The grand ballroom. 

Christian the 4th built everything. And was proud of it too. C4's are everywhere!

Perfect bed for St. Patrick's Day. 

What the castle looks like. 

Me by a viking ship. 

Gitte, me and Julie in front of the castle. 

Leaving the castle

Last week, my host dad helped me bake a traditional Danish cake, as seen above. 

We had cake today! The right one is chocolate with peanuts and the other is a traditional Danish cake that has a coconut topping. Yummy!

I mailed all my postcards! 

By Miaja's train stop, there is this statue of a man in a bath tub. 

There is video surveillance around him, so no one can try anything funny. I thought about it. 

Coffeeshop Reviews

I've always really liked coffee shops. In Copenhagen I am thoroughly enjoying the plethora of choices. My new goal (just for fun)  is to sample as many coffee shops as I can and then write short personal reviews. I've gone through and reviewed the places I've been so far. On a scale of 1-10 I ranked how good their coffee was, how nice and comfortable the atmosphere was, and how much I personally liked it. I agree those are the three most important factors in a good coffee shop.

List of cafes and coffee shops I've been to in Copenhagen:

Living Room: This is a cool place because you can go downstairs and chill on the couches without buying anything. Heck I even ate my own sandwich there. The lighting is low and the couches are made of leather and quite large. One morning I bought a small coffee there for 20kr. I drank it black and it was actually great without sugar or cream. The best part was that it came with two chocolate covered coffee beans. I felt comfortable doing my reading sitting on a barstool facing the window. The woman behind the counter was friendly. Lots of Danes hang out here and it's always crowded.
Coffee points: 8
Atmosphere points: 9
Deb points: 8

Squeeze Me First: Like them on Facebook to get deals and specials. I went there and got a coffee, tomatoe soup and bread for something like 30kr. The soup was fantastic. The coffee was standard.The woman who works there is friendly to chat with It's a very small place and the chairs aren't comfy so it's better to take the food to go. Not many people know about this place so it is never crowded.
Coffee points: 6
Atmosphere points: 6
Deb points: 8

Baresso: The Starbucks of Denmark. I went here to study for an exam and that was a mistake. I spent ten minutes waiting in line for an overpriced small coffee and the Wi fi has a time limit. They are always crowded. The coffee was fine. They normally have two floors so there is plenty of space to chill, but there is a wide variety of people who come here; like from children to the elderly. You'll probably have to sit next to a screaming child. You can find better coffee shops with more personality. This is a last resort coffee shop.
Coffee points: 4
Atmosphere points: 3
Deb points: 4


Tea style: This is my most recent favorite. It's a tea shop rather than a coffee shop but I still want to talk about it. They didn't have a chai latte so I tried the original milky tea for 33kr because she said it was the most popular. It was delicious! It even came in a large glass. I wasn't mad that it didn't stay hot very long because even cold it tasted so sweet. Hands down the best part is the chairs. They hang from the cieling so you can bounce in them. Like a hammock. It's mostly an Asian hangout spot so it's great if you want cultural diversity.
Coffee points: 9
Atmosphere points: 9
Deb points: 9

Joe and the Juice: my host sister told me that in order to work at Joe and the Juice you need to be attractive. I had wondered why all of the baristas looked like male models. Their quite friendly to chat with. The atmosphere here is cool because the couches are comfy and they play music like R. Kelly. The juice is okay. It's like a homemade smoothie where there are seeds and chunks in it. I think it's overpriced.
Coffee points: 3
Atmosphere points: 7
Deb points: 6

Studenterhuset: No one can beat their ten kroner coffee and croissant deal. That's what I get. This is a great spot because you can hang out there and not buy anything. It's where a lot of Danes hang out. I think it's too crowded with DIS students sometimes.
Coffee points: 7
Atmosphere points: 8
Deb points: 7

I feel oh so happy

So I've been very happy this week.

Monday, I was extremely glad to be back in Copenhagen. Every little thing I appreciated. Eating breakfast with my host parents. Taking the train was great. Walking to class I could see all of the beautiful Danes around me. Everything was so perfect. It reminded me of how I first felt when I got to Copenhagen except back then it was mixed with feelings of fear and anxiety. Now I just have the euphoria.

Tuesday I was also happy. I just had one class because my other class was cancelled. I was so eager to take the early train home. Before class, I bought a box of cake mix and a bar of chocolate with mint. I ate my chocolate bar on the train (It was so messy). When I came home, I watched my host sister's One Direction movie. I am now officially a fan of One Direction. They are such a cute and funny boy band.

My host mom made us sloppy joes from her American cookbook. She took it a step above and made her own hamburger buns. They were delicious. Having sloppy joes definitely reminded me of dinners at home.
After dinner, my host dad helped me bake the cake I bought because the directions were only in Danish. It turned out to be a traditional Danish cake with a gooey coconut topping. Yum!

I went on a post card writing binge. I wrote 12 post cards. I bought some stamps today and hope to mail them tomorrow.

Wednesday, today it snowed. I was very surprised to wake up to a winter wonderland because I honestly thought winter was over. It felt like the weather when I first got to Copenhagen so it reminded me again of the feelings I had when I first arrived. I love the snow and think everything looks better with snow on it.

I had a photojournalism workshop from 1 to 4pm where we learned how to edit our photos. It was kind of review to me because I learned that stuff last semester in my photography class. After, I hung out with two friends.