Golly. Add a few points to the stresses of London. After missing that first bus, I purchased tickets for the next one, but the seats were given on a first-come-first-seated basis, regardless of what our tickets said, so I wasn’t seated until the next bus. When I finally got off, it turned out the stop was actually a FORTY MINUTE WALK away from my hostel (in the cold, unfamiliar, dark-as-night-because-uhm-it-kind-of-was-night territory of the outskirts of London). Plus, I was starving. Luckily, the poorly-placed bus stop was conveniently placed with regard to a reasonably-priced Asian restaurant. I’m talking no more than twelve steps. It was glorious. Plus, they always get Chinese take-out in the British movies, so it felt appropriately cultural.

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Now I’m in the hostel waiting for Jackson, because he was supposed to arrive about two hours ago, and he still isn’t here, and I’m trying to simultaneously distract myself and keep myself awake. Here’s hoping it works and that he arrives soon…

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Okay. I’m backtracking now all the way to last Monday the 16th. I had a busy week before I went to London, and I never got a chance to talk about it! So I’m taking a break, and I’ll tell you about London in the next post. Kay?

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I think Monday was normal, as far as I can remember. I probably did lots of homework and made plans to do other things that didn’t happen. A nap may have also taken place.

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Tuesday, however, was a whole bundle of fun. No sarcasm. Denae invited the homestay network over for a nondescript, celebratory dinner, which was kind of a Thanksgiving slash Danish Christmas slash Reunite After That First Homestay Event Event. It was great and delicious. I’ve come to really appreciate just how hard it is to stay in touch with people who are not already a part of your life for some other reason (ie: classes in common, same commute, same favorite st–woah. wordpress in London just underlined “favorite” with the red squiggle that means it’s spelled incorrectly, because they spell it “favourite.” this is great. wow. their keyboards are also different. the quote sign is where the @ sign should be. struggles.– Right. Same favorite study spot, etc.) Therefore, it was great to see some other Allerød and Birkerød people again.

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The dinner was delicious, and the table was arranged so classily (my word)! Even the napkins were folded differently for each person.We had turkey, beef, roasted carrots and beets, scalloped potatoes, warm bread, gravy, salad…. Yes. ‘Twas a good time. And for dessert, we had ris a la mande, a traditional Christmas Danish dessert with a French name. It’s a rice pudding (the good kind) with a bunch of chopped-up almonds, and the person who finds the one whole almond in the bowl (there were two since there were so many of us) is supposed to hide it until all of the pudding is gone, reveal their find, and then get a prize. The prize was an advent calendar!!! I was jealous, since I’ll be missing the first twelve days of my fantastic, customary truffle-filled advent calendar Mom bought from starbucks so many years ago. (Why does British wordpress also think “Mom” is spelled incorrectly?)

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We also did a gift exchange. Super great idea. Everybody puts their wrapped gift in the middle of the table, and their are multiple cups with dice in them (one per cup). It’s a mad speed round of rolling and passing, and if you roll a six, you get a gift from the middle, regardless of whether you already have one. I managed to have four of the twelve gifts by the end. Huzzah! Round two is the same, except when you roll a six, you get to steal a gift–physically. You have to actually get up and grab whichever gift you want so the rolling and passing can continue uninterrupted. I had five gifts at one point and ended with two. Then the people with multiple gifts keep their favorite and dole out the rest to those without. I got fluffy socks. #winning.

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Wednesday was my Ultimate Adventure Day. First I had a field study with Royalty in the Land of Equality. We showed up at Roskilde Cathedral around 9am and got a tour by our professor, the amazing Stephen. It was so much better than when I tried to peek in the last time I was in Roskilde! (Granted, a service was happening last time, so I couldn’t do much exploring.)

The grave of the most recent king of Denmark, the father of the current Queen Margrethe II. He liked gardening and nature, so they broke tradition and put him outside the cathedral.

The inside!

A royal height chart, just like the one on my kitchen wall back home! It’s pretty hard to make out, but the very tallest one is Peter the Great. Tehe.

King Christian IV’s chapel, where he’s buried. The ceiling is painted with stars because he was very close to Tycho Brahe. Neat, huh?!

The pretty organ!

The three figures surrounding this tomb are known as the Little Mermaid’s sisters because they were created by the same sculptor.

Okay. This is where it gets weird. This is the model for the current queen’s chapel, where she will be buried. She and her husband, Prince Henrik, will actually be underground, but above them will be a set of steps, three pillars to represent Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, and a glass coffin/ oval thing with the silhouettes of the Queen and Prince. Creepy, if you ask me.

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Afterward, Stephen took us to coffee at the same cafe that Jackson and I had tried out last time. I got ischokolade, hot chocolate with whipped cream and ice cream. HE-LLO.

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More adventures ensued.

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Certain that I would likely not venture to Roskilde again before the end of the semester (long journey), I seized my chance to explore the Viking Ship Museum. I learned a lot, too! Those crazy Danes found five ships form the 1000-1200s a few decades ago that had sunk to the bottom of this Viking blockade. They reconstructed the scraps, analyzed the crap out of them, and then rebuilt them from scratch. They tried to do it exactly like the Vikings, because again, the Danes are crazy. They used axes and tools and materials that the Vikings would have used. No modern machinery here. And after they had rebuilt these five giant sailing ships, some other crazy Danes went out and actually sailed them! To test the designing prowess of the Vikings, I guess. Seriously nuts.

The completed reconstructions

One of the original Viking ships (or what was left of it!)

Another angle of another ship

Me trying to not be lonely inside a model Viking ship. There was a giant shield and Viking costumes that I really wanted to pose with, but I was too embarrassed to ask anybody to photograph my single self.

Those red things are giant shields!

Just a typical Viking boat-constructing shed, where they were still at work creating another ship. Honestly, where do they find these rugged men who think it would be a good idea to act like Vikings and build gigantic sailing ships with axes and their own bare hands?

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The sun had come out by this time, and I took my time to walk through the city a bit. I had nothing else planned that day, though I had dreams, certainly. I found myself in a fantastic little bookstore, grabbed a sample copy of a novel for free (in Danish), and convinced myself that I will get at least one novel in Danish before I return to the States. The covers are so cool, and that way I can brush up if ever I want to! (on Danish, that is)

A view of the Cathedral on my walk back to the station

Some pretty wreathes at the Roskilde Christmas market

Art in the town square

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On the train home, I was debating whether I shouldn’t go the whole way and just go up to the Louisiana Museum by myself. I have been wanting to go back ever since I bought my season pass on my first visit, for goodness’ sake! But I was too tired and it was getting dark. I also really wanted to go to the ballet again (this time to see Swan Lake), but again with the tiredness. So I settled for going home to relax. I plopped down on my bed, opened– JACKSON IS FINALLY HERE AT THE HOSTEL. ONLY 2.25 HOURS AFTER HE SAID HE WOULD BE. I WASN’T WORRIED SICK OR ANYTHING. I’M FINE.– Right. So I got in bed and turned on my iPad, only to find an email from my core course teacher offering me free tickets to… The Danish Ballet. Performing Swan Lake. Wow. I had to go, obviously. I ate some food, packed a sandwich, and hopped on the train yet again.

Lights next to the metro station!

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The ballet was strange. As per usual, it seems. The performance was not just Swan Lake. Oh, no, sir. They only performed the big meeting/tableau/showcasey scene, which lasts about 45 minutes. After intermission, the dancers came back on, sat in the raised orchestra pit, and performed a “choreographic concert.” This consisted of a sort of interplay between the dancers and this very complicated lecture given by a very old man that played every once in a while on a screen behind them. The “choreographer” was an American, and he sat at the conductor’s chair “conducting” the dancers to say and do the most ridiculous things sometimes. It was very interesting. Much more acting exercise than dance, if you ask me. It’s really hard to explain though, so I won’t try. But it was enjoyable, nonetheless. Can’t say no to free art!

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I was tired as heck on Thursday, and sicker than before. My throat was throbbing, and I really, really, REALLY did not want to get out of bed, but I just HAD to go to the last day of my core class. We got clementines and cookies, at least. After that class, I had a three hour break, so I met up with some of the Iceland Gang for some studying (no studying occurred) coffee and hot chocolate. Prime choice.

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Abbi and I explored some Christmas markets afterward!

“Everything is made of chocolate”

I thought I had taken the picture before Abbi made her way in, but I was wrong… So very wrong…

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I raced back to Creative Travel Writing to hear a talk by a guest speaker, Nagieb Khaja. He’s an amazing Danish journalist who reports on extremely dangerous and active events and groups. He’s been embedded with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, he’s been to several different war zones, including Syria, and he has reported on the gang activities in Copenhagen. It was such an interesting and enlightening talk, and he linked the activities in Paris and the actions of IS all the way back to the first World War. He also kept asking us really serious questions about American military actions that we had no answers to. I asked him a question about objectivity in the kind of intense journalism he works with, and he went on to explain that staying objective and neutral is what keeps him safe when he is interviewing potentially dangerous people in highly tense situations. Very eye-opening.

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Friday (sorry for so much stuff this week!) I had a field study with my Royalty class to the Amelienborg Museum. Our teacher Stephen works there as a curator of sorts, so he had an all-access pass for us. (Amelienborg is where the royal family lives, by the way!)

A view of the Marble Church from Amelienborg Square

The epitome of a (royal) man cave

A sort of Iron Throne!

Some pretty Christmas sights on my way to Danish (I was late).

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Okay! I think that about covers it for my week before the London trip! London will be the next post. I am now back in Copenhagen. So yes. It is technically Monday the 23rd now, but I started it on the 20th! So there!

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Venlig hilsen/ best regards/ cheers!

Lizzy-wa