Category: Denmark

It’s true. I may still find it an absolute pain to type English on Danish keyboards (though admittedly it is mountains easier to type in Danish on Danish keyboards… no Google-copy-pasting the æ, ø, and å), but I feel quite at home here. Crazy that I will be going Home home in just TWO WEEKS AND A FEW HOURS. GET READY, AMERICA.

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The reason I am in such a jittery and CAPITAL mood is that I just finished my oral Danish exam. Man. I was nervous as a cockroach. (Assuming those things are nervous.) I was second out of the class, and we had to have a conversation in Danish with our teacher while another Danish teacher sat taking notes while simultaneously recording our conversation. Gah!!! I’ve been mumbling to myself all morning, and my host dad Jesper and host sister Maria were quizzing me over breakfast. (Hvordan har du i dag?  … Godt, men jeg er træat, fordi i går, holde jeg fest.) Jesper, at least, said he was impressed by my learning as much as I have without them speaking Danish around me at home. I am quite impressed, as well, let me tell you. I’m nervous, though, because I just realized that in the heat of the moment, I forgot to use any advanced vocabulary and sentence structures. I was just trying to have a natural conversation!!!!! Ugh… I’m really sad about it, but I’m hoping my fluency and conversational attitude made up for it. Cross your fingers.

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Earlier this week, I was actually buying Maria a birthday present at a little jewelry boutique and had the longest and first real Danish conversation ever with a real Dane in a real Context and it made me real Happy. Normally, Danes hear my poor Danish pronunciations and immediately switch to English, despite my best efforts to practice out in the real world. This time, however, I was the only person in the store, and I guess the lady must have either just been really nice or really wanted to sell me something. Either way, she succeeded! At both! We talked about how I was getting something for my sister’s birthday (min søsters fødselsdag), what I was looking for, what color (guld, sølv). It was actually fantastic, and I was in a state of euphoria the whole time. I’m pretty sure my eyes were about as wide as my face would allow for the greater part of the conversation, but she never switched to English. Not once! My Danish failed me when I finally decided on a necklace (uh….. that one…). I kicked myself internally, but she pretended not to notice. Then as she was ringing me up, she said, “Danish is hard, huh?” (But in Danish of course. I just can’t remember her exact phrasing.) She is basically my new bestie. I was failed yet again when she said, Hav an god dag, and I forgot how to say, “You too.” So I did the next best thing and ran away. Baby steps. Baby steps.

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Alrighty. Current events. Maria’s birthday was on Tuesday, so she’s a whopping seventeen!!! Can’t believe she’s younger than my brother. That night, instead of joining her birthday dinner, though, I had another Scan|Design event: Thanksgiving dinner! ‘Twas delicious and sustainable and local and I was way too full by the time I got home at midnight. Those Danes really like to take their time at dinner parties, let me tell you. The restaurant was called MadMad MadBodega. I originally thought they were crazy for using the same word three times, with some sort of restaurant stutter, but Tessa enlightened me and we were informed that two of the “Mad”s are actually Mads, which means “food” in Danish. Clever little buggers. Unfortunately, I just discovered that I have not a single picture from the event. We traded our coats for drinks as we walked in the door, and I left my phone in my pocket! You’ll just have to imagine the deliciousness I guess.

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I found another alcohol I liked, too. Some sort of pink Champagne cousin. And we had to participate in a Thanksgiving trivia to decide who got to break the wish bones. There were two, and my team didn’t win either!

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On Wednesday, Jackson and I had quite the adventures in København. First, we went on a field study with my European Art class to see a Japanese art exhibit at the Danish Design Museum. My teacher introduced him to the whole class and kept trying to get him to elaborate on his vast Japanese cultural knowledge.

I found this gem out in the lobby. The chair was cool, too.

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Then we went on a field study with my Danish class. We watched “The Royal Affair,” a fantastic Danish movie about… a royal affair which took place between the Danish queen and the king’s personal physician some two hundred years ago. Apparently some of the affair took place about a ten minutes’ walk from my home in Birkerød at a little hunting cabin! Highly recommend the movie with subtitles!!! Afterwards, we had a tour of the Royal Stables and the reception rooms of Christiansborg Slot, conducted by none other than my Royalty teacher Stephen. Oh, Stephen…

The castle

One of the royal horses! They liked me. And they’re a special Portuguese breed which are born black and turn whiter with age to become more pure and noble. #knowledge

Thrones from the nineteenth century, I believe?

Her majesty the Queen with the Royal silver lions

Okay I thought this part was the coolest. The great hall of Christiansborg is lined with tapestries that were made about fifteen years ago. Normally I find tapestries horribly dull and boring, not least because of their lacking color schemes and solemn themes. But these guys! Wow. So modern and colorful and artsy! I love it! This one is actually depicting the family and characters involved in the Royal Affair!!!

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To wrap up the night, we got some Danish pølsers and headed to Tivoli!

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I gotta use up that silly season pass I bought, after all. It was fantastic. Tivoli is about a thousand times better when you do the rides. They are intensely ridiculous. We stayed away from the big coaster, because I couldn’t handle the loop-de-loops after all the other spinny and stomach-turning rides we went on. Right off the bat, we tried the ride I’ve been eyeing all year: one of those big swings, but it rises up to about the height of an Extreme Scream. Fifteen or twenty stories, maybe? I thought it would just offer a calm view of the park, but I was wrong. That swing was absolute madness. Madness. Madness. MadMad Madness. It was like the Extreme Scream except that instead of a single drop, we were enduring an endless whirlpool in mid-air, with no clue as to when it would stop, and it was raining, so I felt exactly as I’m sure Harry Potter felt during that one really nasty Quidditch match in his third year of school. The brooms helped, too:

Tehe. Just kidding. Those brooms were there for Halloween, and I stole this picture from Tessa went we went about a month ago. For the Christmas season, the chairs were just adorned with lights! And terror!

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There were lots of other rides, including Jackson’s supposed first Ferris Wheel, a children’s carousel (the ride operator got quite the kick out of Jackson), and a water boat game where we had to compete to laser-shoot a bunch of light targets on our journey through a gold and diamond mine. At one point, there was a waterfall in the middle of our path, and they hadn’t warned us, and I had my book and phone with me! This was the result:

It was actually just a trick waterfall, and it turned off right before we went under. Those sneaky Danes…

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Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I somehow landed the job as hostess. And guess what? WE COOKED A TURKEY. A REAL LIVE (not live. it was dead.) TURKEY. FROM FRANCE. The cleaning consisted mostly of me reading from the internet and yelling at Jackson while he responded with questions such as, “What are the giblets? Where? Where are they supposed to be? Which side is the head? There is no inside! Oh, these? Woah, what’s this?” It was pretty great. And it tasted great, too.

That’s my man… (He gave up and let one of the moms cut the turkey after he got past the drumstick.)

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We had Mikayla and Tonia’s host families over too, and we organized it potluck-style. There were also four pies. Pure insanity, I tell you. And only two champagne glasses were broken! And I only broke one of them! Yay!

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The night was actually such a success. We should have taken a group picture, but I didn’t think of it until just now! And Maria had to miss because of work. I was sad, but she was pretty excited for leftovers when she got home.

I made that Apple pie! Crust from scratch, of course!

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I have one more class today, and then I’m going to run home, pack, bring Jackson back to Copenhagen, hang out with Brian from UW who is studying at NTNU with Jackson who is here right now, fly to Belgium, take a train to Lille, France, and sleep. Wow. Here we go….

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Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa

Okay. First, I have to talk about the Royal Danish Opera! Because I don’t…… Wow. Sorry. I stopped mid-sentence there about ten hours ago and have absolutely no idea where I was going with that sentence. This is awkward.

But here! It’s a dress from one of the Danish Opera’s first renditions of La Triviata. The show was beautiful, and obviously the performers were amazing. I personally loved watching the conductor and listening to the music, because it was pretty hard to follow the story line considering the singing was in Italian and the subtitles were in Danish. (A little LCD screen popped up above the stage with the subtitles.) During each intermission (there were four), we took turns exchanging what we understood and what we guessed was going on. It was pretty fun, to say the least. And champagne during the last intermission!

The hallway! We got a little backstage tour before the show, but the tour was conducted in Danish, so it was about as easy to follow as the show itself. I missed the number, but apparently these chandeliers go for quite the hefty price. I couldn’t take pictures inside the theater because of copyright laws (silliest thing ever), but you’ll just have to try it out for yourself sometime. Thank you, Scan|Design for a wonderful night and a great cultural experience!

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I’ll follow up with a more up-to-date post.

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Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa

That is all!

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Alright, I must be off. I’m in Paris, for goodness sake!!! 

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Venlig hilsen / best regards / au revoir!

Lizzy-wa

Golly goodness; it’s really kickin’ in. The bags under my eyes have certainly put on some weight in the past few weeks. Sometimes it’s because of all the fun I’m having. Sometimes it’s because of all the reading and writing I’m doing.

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Speaking of which, I’m doing NaNoWriMo! Or I’m trying to, at least. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, and the idea is to write a 50,000 word novel, or the first 50,000 words of a larger novel, during the thirty days of November. It’s pure evil. I’ve tried it several times and failed miserably over and over again. But I don’t know. This time could be different. I certainly have lots of stuff to write about! So far, I’ve started a little study-abroad novel. Original, I know. However, to do a little twist on it, I’m doing it from the perspective of my younger sister (sort of) as she journeys through her own study abroad two years after me. Funny thing that she ends up doing the same program. (Convenient, eh?) So yeah. I’ve got… a bit over 3,500 words now, so I’m actually behind schedule already. *sigh. Wish me luck!

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Okay. What fun things have I been up to since my grand return from the Great Beyond (AKA: Iceland)? I honestly don’t remember too well. I’ve been pretty wrapped up in school work the past ten days, and I get to go to the opera tomorrow, so that’s all I’ve been able to think about. My very first opera! Eep!

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Oh yes! Last Wednesday, I got to visit Fredericksborg Castle again, this time with my Creative Travel Writing class. The sun was shining, the wind was punishing, and the guide was adorable. He also looked pretty much exactly like Jackson, but with hipster glasses and a mustache. Very strange… But the castle was definitely better with a guide. I learned so much that I had just glanced over the last time!

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Isn’t it pretty?! They actually had the fountain on this time! The first time I visited, the fountain was shut down for maintenance and the water was covered in a thick layer of green algae and muck. It was disgusting. I think they were still running tests, though, because the water kept turning on and off. It caught a little girl by surprise and soaked her through. Tehe.

The Jackson look-alike pointing out the shields lining much of the castle walls- The shields represent the “orders” awarded to various people (kind of like a knighting, if that’s the term?). Fun tidbit: a person can only keep their… award? badge? medal? (I was unclear about that) until they pass away, because the state only has so many. When they die, the order is returned to Denmark. Therefore, in order to ensure that the order will be returned, an order/ knighthood must be given to Denmark as well, and they’ll do a bit of trade-sies. Because of this, Americans can’t receive Danish orders because they have nothing to exchange. The only American exception is Eisenhower for his duty as general during the war!

Ceilings (:

Queen Margrethe, current reigning monarch of Denmark

More ceilingsss

A royal bed! So pretty.

I stuck around after the rest of my class left so I could explore all the nooks and crannies of Fredericksborg on my own. In the process, I discovered a Steve McCurry exhibit that was being held on the ground floor. Steve McCurry is the photographer who captured that iconic Afghan Girl with the green eyes. I loved the exhibit! Most of the photos were from Middle Eastern and Asian countries, temples, slums, etc. New favorite photographer.

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I spent Halloween at home with Sara and Mikayla. We baked banana bread and watched Interstellar (color me confused for most of that movie- I finally felt some closure and understanding by the end, though). We also had a total of four trick-or-treating groups. “Trick or treat” sounds so stinkin’ cute in Danish! Slik eller ballade. The first time a group said that, I asked Sara what they were saying, and she responded with, “Uhm… Candy or I’ll kill you or something?” Imagine my alarm. It was only when I said that was a lot more dramatic that “trick or treat” that she remembered slik eller ballade is pretty much a direct translation. At one point, a group of little girls came to the door, and instead of knocking, they just stood there and chanted: Slik eller ballade. Slik eller ballade. Slik eller ballade, until Sara opened the door. I could not get over it!

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Oh! I also got to meet Sara and Maria’s grandma! She was so sweet! Her little apartment was covered in art, some of which she had painted herself, and she gave us mocha ice cream and tea. What more could you ask for? She also informed me that I will be missing some big Danish holiday next week while I’m in Trondheim. Nobody else had cared to mention this to me the whole time I’ve been here, but it seems sort of Thanksgiving-esque as far as the November, before-Christmas, get-together-with-family-and-eat idea goes.

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We actually went over there to deliver a jack-o-lantern that Sara had carved. Tehe. It got stuck in the bike basket and was a struggle to get out. She liked it, though!

Her decorations also gave me some ideas for when I get my hands on my bike back in Seattle… (;

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Today, I had Danish class in Christiania, believe it or not. We got a tour from a man who has lived there since 1989, and it was a lot less scary in a group of American students, let me tell you. He told us all about the businesses and goings-on in Christiania aside from the Green Light District, which is apparently known as Pusher Street. I’ll try to brave it again in December for the Christmas Market.

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Graffiti in Christiania

Indoor/ outdoor skate park in Christiania

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Alrighty! No class tomorrow, so I have to finish a big essay for my Rome class before heading out to the opera! I’ll let you know how it goes!!! Eeep!

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Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa

Hello party peoples. Slash Mom and Dad.

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I come to you with sad news. I have no time to blog! It sucks. I want to. I have so many adventures and plans that I want to share with the world, but so little time to share it all. I’ll do a sum-up of my busy life:

• Wednesday, I had another trip to my favorite museum, the Danish National Gallery, for a study tour with European Art. Man, I love that place.
• That night, I got around four hours of sleep writing an essay and studying for a final exam in Classical and Renaissance Rome (I think I did okay)
• Thursday, Rome exam and a really early meeting with The Iceland Gang to finalize the plan. We are set! And broke!
• That night, I got another healthy four hours of sleep studying for two midterms that I had today (Friday)
• Friday morning: walking tour with Royalty in the Land of Equality. It was cold. I could feel the heat seeping out of my legs like the air around me was starving for warmth. I NEED HEAT, TOO, BUDDY. My toes were also numb by the end of it. I’ll have to triple-sock it during my glacier adventures in Iceland, I suppose, as I was already wearing two pairs today.
• Then Danish midterm. I forgot two history questions, but I think the rest went well? I was also late. *sigh
• Then Art midterm. I feel good about that one. We’ll see.
• I ran to the train, read some more of The Martian along the way, and took a 2.5 hour nap upon arriving home.
• I cleaned, I packed, I ate, I finished another essay.
• I’m waking up in seven hours to leave for Rome on a plane at 8am. I’ll be heading for Iceland on Wednesday after a quick layover in Copenhagen. I’ll get back to Copenhagen Sunday night and may possibly go into hibernation. Hopefully, my teachers won’t mind.

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So basically, that was my week. Don’t count on any blogs until mid-week of my return from travel, because my activity schedule is so jam-packed until then that I’ll barely have time to breathe. (I definitely will not be sleeping.) A surprise post may appear while in Iceland, depending on the wifi quality in the airbnb…

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Pictures!

Oh! I also went swing dancing on Tuesday night with Maia! It was fun, way too crowded, and awkward because of all the cafe-goers who were watching us in bewilderment. But still a great time. We’ll probably go back! Yay!

Some shadow art in the Eckersberg exhibit at the National Gallery (:

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Okay, I thought I had more pictures, but apparently I didn’t. I could post a really unflattering selfie I sent to a few people after that first four-hour-sleep night, but I’ll spare you.

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OKAY, BYE. I’M OFF TO SEE THE WORLD AND STUFF.

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Venlig hilsen/ I migliori auguri/ Með kveðju/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa

It was rough getting up today, let me tell you. We have reached that time of year where I am forced to get up before the sun on a daily basis. It is horrible. And to make it worse, I was the only one up this morning because the girls are on their fall break! Which also means a lot of the trains are taking a break this week. Yay! (By which I mean Boo!)

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But that’s okay (for now) because I had a pretty fantastic weekend.

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On Friday, I slept in a bit because of a canceled class and had a field trip to the Glyptotek for European Art. It was my second time there. A few days ago, whilst discussing my many museum and artistic adventures, I actually had somebody say to me, “So you must be really cultured, huh?” Did I deny this? Of course not. I just finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, after all.

Here’s one of my favorite sculptures that we saw. It’s Medusa about to have her head chopped off by Perseus, who would then use her head as a weapon (as it still had the ability to turn people to stone afterwards.) Intense, right? Most of the other sculptures and paintings of the subject show Perseus with Medusa’s head after it has been hacked off. I think I like this one better. Less gore, more emotion.

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That night, my Danish class put together a little party before Kulturnatten, Copenhagen’s big once-a-year Culture Night that spreads throughout the city and clogs the public transportation systems well into the evening. I met up with some girls from my core class, and we explored the Botanical Gardens, saw the nighttime city skyline from atop the Round Tower, and had a mini baking class back at Meyer’s Madhus, where I had the sausage-cooking class on Wednesday.

Look at our adorable cinnamon rolls! I’m not sure why our hands look so weird, but believe me, they were delicious. (The rolls, not the hands.)

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Oh. We also decided it would be a great idea to check out H.C. Anderson’s graveyard while we were in the neighborhood. Needless to say, it was terrifying, and we participated in a lot of unnecessary shrieking and jumping.

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On Saturday, I met up with Tessa, Abbi, and Erin, who will from now on be referred to as The Iceland Gang. Because we are going to Iceland. In… eleven days. Holy cats. We decided to go to Tivoli, because that seemed like the most reasonable and productive place to plan a multi-day trip abroad that will end up costing us hundreds of dollars. (After some calculations: the absolute minimum cost per person after flights and lodging, if we eat nothing but bread and cheese and send zero postcards, will be $800.)

Isn’t it pretty? That stupid bus wouldn’t leave, though.

There was a little musical I wanted to go to inside Tivoli, but none of the girls were interested, so I just used the extra money to buy a season’s pass. I am spontaneous.

The place was all decked out for Halloween, and it really made me want to watch Hocus Pocus. The big swing ride even had brooms attached to the underside, so it looked like everybody was a wizard. Actually genius. Also pictured is a contestant in the giant pumpkin contest, which made me extremely homesick for the Puyallup Fair. *sigh.

Also, is this not positively adorable? Who came up with this? I demand that they decorate my room.

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We also got a little performance from the Youth Guard. ‘Twas adorable.

At one point, the air got really murky and I asked, “Where’s this smoke coming from?” One of the girls replied, “From that cauldron.” Tessa: “Casually.”

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On Sunday, Sara and I went for a little hike/ walk on some trails on the other side of the neighborhood. It was so pretty, and I wish I had known about them earlier!

I dawned my choice hiking attire for the occasion, of course.

And Sara made sure to get some directing in.

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I finished up the weekend with some swing dancing. It’s been too long, and I’ll miss the next two weeks, at least. Apparently there is even a big swing weekend I’ll miss while I’m in Iceland. Sad life… On the bright side, I’m trying out a new venue tomorrow with Maia! I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa

It has happened. Inevitably, that point in the school year has approached when my life is just too busy or too exciting or too sleepless or too homework-heavy or too exhausting for my body to handle. After a week in Sweden and a weekend with The Significant Other and ten nights of Not Enough Sleep, my body has given up. Rather than sending a postcard or a letter of resignation, though, my immune system has decided to send a kindly message in the form of snot and tiny ravenous monsters with enormously sharp claws that seem to have lodged themselves in my throat two mornings ago. This is it. This is the end.

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I mean, not really. Luckily (kind of, more on that later), one of my classes was canceled Tuesday morning, so I only had two classes to consider skipping. Though it was only the first day of sickness, and I knew there could be worse yet to come, I decided sleep and rest was the only way to aid in my recovery. I sent some emails and canceled swing dancing (again… sigh…) before crawling back in bed to drink tea and watch the last half of Sleepless in Seattle.

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And it paid off! I felt about a million times better, by sick standards, when I woke up Wednesday morning. I’m at about the same now as I was yesterday, with frequent nose-blowing and infrequent coughing, but it could be a lot worse. I am quite proud of myself and my ability to make tea.

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Let’s back up to the weekend:

When I arrived back in Denmark Friday night, Jackson was already here and ready for adventure! And by “adventure,” I mean “a weekend of inactivity.” It was actually the best. We only really did the types of activities one would do on a weekend at home, rather than on a weekend abroad. It was relaxing and wonderful.

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Saturday, we only left the house to walk to the grocery store. Then we spent the day baking baking and watching You’ve Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. ‘Twas adorbs.

Note the excitement on my face. I’m still trying to finish this cheesecake!

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Sunday, I had these big plans to explore Roskilde, a town over to the West of Copenhagen that is home to several historical museums, a viking ship museum, and a cathedral. Unfortunately, the trains kept getting canceled while we waited, and then once we finally got on the right one, I ensured that we depart one stop too early. Long story short, the 1.5 hour trip ended up lasting closer to three. By the time we got there, we were starving, but once we finished dinner, all of the museums and attractions were closed. So basically we are the Best Tourists Ever. We did manage to stumble into the cathedral after visiting hours to listen to the local boys choir sing, though. It was positively amazing, as most boys choirs are. Gosh, I can’t even explain it. The acoustics, the decor… I can’t.

The inside

The outside!

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Monday, I brought Jackson along with me to Creative Travel Writing, and my professor told him he could only stay if he participated. He took this a bit out of hand and ended up talking more than any other single person in the class. Yeah. Never taking him out again. One of my friends in the class told me this afternoon that she would have left her boyfriend in the hall. Ha! Then we wandered around, ate random food, ordered hot chocolate in Danish (I was so close! I just forgot how to say “whipped cream!”), and then we watched a movie in the library. I know, I know. Party animals, we are.

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There were also various photo shoots:

The royal stables with Christiansborg in the background

The changing of the guard in front of Amelianborg Palace

Riding bikes

My love bug next to the neighborhood Love Bug. HA! Wow, that was gross. I don’t actually call him that, I swear.

The LEGO store

And random dancing. Because sometimes, you just gotta dance.

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And then he left! Gah! Next stop is Paris in November. (:

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Wednesday, I braved the sickness and wrapped myself in as many layers as my rain jacket would permit, and then I tried commuting via bike for the first time. Won’t be doing that again. I rushed to get to the train, got there just in time, arrived to a bike car that was totally full so that I had to stand in the passageway for the full 25 minutes with my bike, panting and sweating profusely and unable to take off any jackets for fear of my bicycle toppling over. But wait, it gets better: when I arrived at Nørreport Station, I discovered that there are no bike tracks on the stairs, because it is technically against the rules to use a bike on the train at this station. I had to carry my bike up two or three or ten flights of steps (it’s all a blur, really), ride down Nørregade alongside cars, pedestrians, and construction (there are no bike lanes on this street for some reason), and then find some illegal parking near my classroom. It was quite the adventure.

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The day was fun, though. My Sustainable Development course had a bike tour around Copenhagen led by Bianca Hermansen, a ridiculously cool urban planner and bicycle infrastructure fanatic:

Note the dress, flowing sweaters, and stiletto boots. This woman is amazing. She was also holding a latte for the first stretch of the tour.

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Some bike paths in the area. This is one of the paths Bianca deemed to be less-than-perfect. (Can you believe that?)

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I went home for a few hours to do some homework and be warm before heading back out into the cold for a cooking course with Scan|Design. They seriously coordinate the best events.

These are the ingredients for the dressings of the Danish “hot dogs” that we made. They were not hot dogs at all, but apparently that is what Danes call sausages once they are all done-up with the buns and dressings. I was on the home-made ketchup and mustard team. We also made fried onions, fresh buns (soooo squishy!), remoulade sauce, pickled cucumbers, and the sausages themselves. We had to stuff actual pork into actual lamb intestines. I tried and failed on my first one. Oh well!

Here’s Angel doing some of the dirty work while I was drinking cider and champagne!

Natalie doing the cooking. OH CRAP!!!! I just realized that they told us we could take the aprons, and when I ran out to catch my bus, I was in such a rush that I didn’t grab one. Hmph…… This is sad.

But check out that hot dog, am I right?

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So yes. I would chalk this up as a successful week, despite being sick. Tomorrow, I’ll be visiting the Glyptotek again with my European Art class before partaking in Copenhagen’s Culture Night!!! I am so excited and have no idea what it is about, but I’ll be sure to give details once all is said and done. Until then…

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Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa

The ballet was wonderful! More modern than ballet in many aspects, but fantastic nonetheless. A great way to spend a Friday night, though I didn’t get home until after midnight! (Granted, that was way before either of my host sisters… Tehe.)

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Our view from the second etage inside Det Kongelige Teater, or The Royal Theater.

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There were three pieces, and they each lasted nearly an hour. It was a long night, but I was never tired while watching. The lighting was fantastic. Our seats were fantastic. The musicality was fantastic. The choreography was fantastic (albeit a tad strange and quite mature at times). The male dancers finished every piece dripping with sweat, which gave the performance a very real aspect compared to showcases such as Swan Lake, where perfection and idealism is key. Also, the third piece was accompanied by an orchestra, which was fantastic.

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In the middle of the second piece, the lead female dancer began a solo improv around the other dancers, while they sat/ stood frozen and silent, and she created a huge wailing ruckus. Then she stood at the edge of the stage and began a string of rapid Danish before stripping suddenly to just panties and socks. She then lay on the stage panting for at least a minute while the audience and her fellow dancers stared at her in an edge-of-seat quiet. Then she sat up and got dressed again while speaking yet more Danish. The dance continued while I sat clueless and wishing that I knew a bit more Danish besides introductions and information about my studies.

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But all was well because the audience was served free champagne in between the first and second piece.

Step up your game, PNB! Ha. Just kidding. I wouldn’t have been able to drink it yet back home anyway.

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As a final remark, I present the Queen’s box and the theater ceiling:

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Alrighty, time to finish up some homework and pack away my stuff for Stockholm! Woot! Woot!

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Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa