Saying goodbye to Copenhagen

This has been my last week at Britta's. It's a very strange to think that I'm probably not going to set foot in this house again. It's strange to think about living in the states again. I've become so used to Denmark...to the point where when a stranger smiles at me or says hi, I think it's weird and wonder why on earth they're doing that. After getting used to not making eye contact with anyone, going back to Minnesota will be interesting. We'll see how it goes. Though I am excited to go back to that friendly atmosphere. Even so, I'm definitely going to miss Denmark. Especially hygge. Of all the things I learned here, hygge is something I'm definitely going to take with me for the rest of my life. It really is a way of life here. 

I haven't really done a ton this week other than some last minute Christmas shopping and a lot of packing. I've been stuffing toys and other various things into bags since I could walk (I was a strange child) and it's a good thing because without all those years of experience, I don't know how I could have managed to pack a semester's worth of clothing and souvenirs into two suitcases. I guess my two-year old self knew I needed to prepare. So two stuffed suitcases later, I'm ready to head to the airport, not to leave, but to pick up my parents at the airport. Then we'll spend a few days in Copenhagen and then we're off to Paris for the rest of the week! And after that, it's home for the holidays!

The Wonderful World of Tivoli

Last Wednesday I went with my Danish class to the Tivoli Gardens. We were given tickets to enter the gardens and then had to meet up with the class for Danish Christmas dessert at a restaurant and then a show. And the best part was that we didn't have to pay for any of it. I was a happy camper. So, in order to make use of this, a couple of classmates and I decided to go to Tivoli early and walk around. The place is absolutely beautiful! It's the most winter wonderland-y place I've ever been.  Lights, ornaments, giant kick-knacks, figurines and elves cover every inch of the gardens. Oh and live peacocks just chilling and walking around among all the guests. This year, the theme at Tivoli was a combination of Danish and Russian Christmas...Which I think is a common theme but I'm not entirely sure.
So I went early with some classmates and we pretty much just wandered around for a couple of hours going through the abundance of Christmas shops. Pretty much every shop there was geared solely for Christmas. They were all selling either Christmas decorations, chocolates,  warm wintery things or similar Christmas-y gifts. See, Tivoli closes after Halloween and doesn't re-open until the end of November. Clearly every second of that time is devoted to decorating. I used to think it was closed for a ridiculously long time but now I completely understand.

 

Entrance! 

 

Beautiful restaurant with a live peacock in front (he's towards the bottom left corner)

 

Me in a strange network of connected huts. I thought they were really exciting and just had to go sit in them. 

After having walked around for a while (and me spazzing out with excitement on numerous occasions), we meet up with our class for some of Denmark's traditional, Christmas desserts: æbleskiver and glögg (which originally comes from Sweden). Basically, æbleskiver are like round, poofy pancakes and are the best things ever. I'm obsessed with them. You dip them in jam and powdered sugar and they're probably one of the only things Danes eat without dining utensils. Glögg is a warm wine with lots of spices mixed in as well as raisins and chopped nuts (the rest of the world calls it mulled wine). Basically my taste buds have never been so happy as they were when I was eating æbleskiver and drinking glögg. I'm determined to find and æbleskiver pan so I can make them when I get back to the states.

 

æbleskiver!!!!

The show we saw was performed by a London theater company. This company has been coming to Tivoli for Christmas for the past thirty years. They're called The Crazy Christmas Cabaret and the show they did this year was called Hitchcock-up.  And yes, it is just as sexual as it sounds. It's not overly sexual but there's definitely a prevalent theme of highly sexual jokes through the play. The show was three hours long and I honestly don't think I've ever laughed as much in three hours as I did last Wednesday. The show was hysterical. The humor ranged from very clever and witty jokes to some very slap-stick stuff and then of course all the sexual jokes (some of which were just bad and some were actually very good). And there wasn't really a plot. I'm not entirely sure what happened in the play. Essentially it was centered around a lost Hitchcock that was found in the lingerie section of a department store. I was really apprehensive about going because the promotional "trailer" wasn't very funny and didn't make much sense but the whole thing was absolutely brilliant (especially because it was so self-aware. It wouldn't have been nearly as funny if it wasn't so self-aware)! And because they've been coming to Denmark for so long, they are able to write these plays for a Danish audience. Even though it's all in English and only one of the seven-ish actors was Danish, they actually use a fair bit of Danish. So many of the jokes only make sense because I've been living here for so long and have gained an understanding of the culture. For example, the way the actors make fun of Swedish accents just isn't as funny if you don't understand exactly how ridiculous the Danes thing the Swedish sound. It was definitely a cultural experience.

To top it all off, it's been snowing lately. I'm stoked about this. I wasn't expecting to get any snow here but we've gotten some surprisingly fluffy snow. It started on Friday night and looked like this:

 

Our "yard"

Not totally legit but still snow. But then, when I woke up on Saturday it looked like this:

 

Even though it's freezing outside, I've been going for long walks everyday in the park right next to my house. And there's snow everywhere! Oh how I love snow. I'm going to be really, really, really, really, really sad if there's no snow when I go back to the states.

 

Before snow it looks like a scene from a Miyazaki movie...

 

 

After snow it looks like a scene from Narnia. Also of note, these pictures were taken at about 3:15-3:30 in the afternoon. Yes, the sun is already that low on the horizon. Oh how I love Denmark!

 

 

 

 

Part of my neighborhood. 

There's definitely a prevalent Christmas theme in all the decorations here. It's very different from the states. But they don't have the same cultural diversity here in Denmark so they don't have to worry about offending people when the put up Christmas (or at least they don't have to worry as much). See, immigration has been a big topic of discussion here in Denmark. The number of immigrants has been increasing dramatically in the past decades. This is because of Denmark's remarkable healthcare system. So the Danes don't really know how to handle this situation. Some people are opposed to it and some people are for it and very supportive. But no matter what someone's opinion is, pretty much ever Dane struggles with the idea of accepting new cultures but still keeping their own Danish traditions. Then there's the problem of whether it's the responsibility of the immigrants to immerse themselves in Danish culture (which many don't) or if the Danes should accept these new cultures into their traditions. Many Danes who are supportive of immigration still want to keep their own Danish traditions. Basically, it's a really big issue that no one really knows how to deal with yet. So, because of this, there are Christmas themed decorations and events everywhere. They don't even try to make it not Christmas specific. 

 

An example of Christmas decorations would be the GIANT Christmas tree in our town center. (There are similar giant trees in the city center and in the central train station)

 

 

Christmas trees and trains in an eye glass shop in the center by my house.