As promised here are my adventures in København:

After a particularly arduous and boring Sprachkurs, Kelsey and I immediately departed for Berlin Hauptbahnhof making two stops to pick up her luggage (which included our tickets) and döner because it was Dönerstag. From there we made our way to Berlin Hauptbahnhof and waited for 2 hours because both of us are very paranoid about not being on time for things (it's actually quite refreshing to finally meet someone who has no problems showing up an hour or two early for something just to make absolutey sure you're never late). From there it was a two hour train ride to Hamburg where we forced a man out of seats that we didn't actually reserve (sorry dude, I don't even know if you can understand this or are reading it). ICE trains are really nice, comfortable and fast. Highly recommend travelling by them.


Anyway Hamburg Hbf isn't nearly as large or impressive as Berlin but I guess there's really no reason for it to be. The only highlights were a crazy old man collecting bottles and a beer can shoved in the ceiling that had clearly been there for a while (like decades). I took some pictures thinking eh I have an 8 gig card why not.

The most exciting thing about the train up to København, other than the prospect of having to battle with a large turkish family for our seats, was the fact that the whole fucking train ended up on a ferry across the Ostsea. Kelsey and I were understandably excited about this. I mean how often do trains get ferried, or how often is it necessary to ferry them even. In any case that alone may have been worth the money.

We arrived in København around 10 that night. Will had a bitching hat and only 30 kroner to his name. Naturally he bought a beer (dude and I have so much in common, I have on several occasions spent my last couple of euro on beer) and we were off.

Will lives in Hellerød which isn't quite København proper, rather a suburb that is disturbingly much like an american one. The whole trip took about 45 minutes by train plus another 10 minute ride by bus. Danish trains are strange in that they are clean and have enough seats to accomodate most people. They also have "silence zones" which aren't very well marked and are a really confusing concept to most people (even other Europeans). For whatever reason, it's a 500 kroner fee to put your feet up on the seats but you can drink beer on them. I don't quite get it but whatever.

After arriving at the Højskole where Will lives (it's basically like a college with no grades where yo also live) we pretty much shot the breeze. I let Will in on some Grinnell gossip I been catching and we split some raspberry shnapps that I smuggled across the border. Kelsey probably talked a bunch too, though most of it didn't really apply to her. She didn't like the schnapps and kept insulting me and it at every opportunity.

After waking up the next day at around 10:30? Kelsey used Will's shower, which ordinarly wouldn't be a big deal except that Will's shower is basically a drain in his bathroom and afterwards you have to squeegee the floor. It's pretty hilarious as well as making showering fun and exciting. I didn't bring anything to shower with but whatever.

Friday we mostly just chilled around Hillerød, looking for cheap food and a place to exchange money. Will showed us this castle he's never bothered to tour but which we all agreed was at least gorgeous from the outside. Danish schwarma is good, but not as good as döner. Nothing really is though.

Afterwards we found this really cool forest to wander around in and get pollen up our noses. Will and I continued to share Grinnell stories much to Kelsey's amusement. (because my parents read this we won't go into what those stories are) Afterward Will showed us a traditional Danish grocery store because he was completely out of food. I marvelled at how expensive everything was and bought a cheap brand of coke to use as a mixer. Will bought what I guess is the danish equivalent of a 30 rack (it's only like 20 or so beers) and we partied. Dinner was a muted affair because all the Danes were out at some huge May Day party that we didn't go to because Will had no money and no real desire to be stuck in København till the next day (getting in and out of the CPH is a big pain we would find). Afterwards Will and I mostly drank and laughed and watched stuff on big screens. Kelsey didn't seem to have a problem with this, which was good.

Saturday was the big day, the day we would finally go to København proper and see all the sights, and then return to a huge højskole party to end all parties.


Eh.


København is beautiful to be sure, and Kelsey and I were really impressed by the architecture, but there just ain't much to do there. Getting around is really easy though, because everyone speaks English which is helpful. Will later explained that yeah, København is pretty much a one day city. That was fine with me because it meant that Kelsey and I had seen everything and weren't bad tourists.

On the trainride back to Hillerød we ran into a real live Larper, but Will said I couldn't stare because it's really rude to stare in Dänemark. Oh well.

Dinner at the Højskole was interesting, because we had to sit at a big long table. They had lamb and everything. It was all good, though there wasn't nearly enough to satisfy. At this point Will and I had been filling our stomachs with beer though, so it wasn't too bad I guess.

After that the party happened, again because my parents read this I won't go into too much detail. Suffice it to say that the Danes really love them some James Brown and Teknotronic or whatever it was called. Also I think I heard Poker Face, but that's everywhere in Europe. The party actually wasn't all that great but whatever.


The morning after Will suggested I drink a lot of water and eat a McDonald's cheesburger or two. It was good advice.


So that was København.


My next adventure is coming up next week, when I go to Bristol to see HT and visit a place where they pretty much only speak english. It's kind of lame actually but I'm still going to have a good time.