My Semester in Copenhagen: A Danish Whirlwind

Last Thursday I decided to skip my cancer class in order to meet two very important people at the airport--my mom and my sister! And the next four days were jam packed with important Danish things to do, see and eat! We started out Friday morning with a canal tour. It was a little rainy so we were happy to see that the boat was covered but we were still able to see all the major sites: the opera house, Amalienborg Palace, the Little Mermaid, Christianshavn and some more but I had to get off the boat to go to class. Then I met up with them for lunch at Nyhavn 17, an adorable restaurant in Nyhavn. We spent the rest of the day walking around Copenhagen and just enjoying the sites. It was really nice to see my mom and sister and give them a glimpse of my daily life here in Denmark.
Day 2 started off with a tour of Christiania, a small

community in Christianshavn that governs itself. It's like a mini Amsterdam in the middle of Copenhagen. You can walk up and down Pusher Street and people are openly buying and selling pot. I think my mom learned a lot from this experience. At one point a dealer offered my mom some hash and she turned to me and asked what it was... Oh, my sweet innocent mother. After Christiania we waited in line for an hour to get into Amalienborg, the palace where the Danish royalty live. They just refinished the crown prince's quarters and they opened it up to the public, so we got to see how royalty live. It was pretty incredible. There was a mix of the old fashioned palace with modern artwork. There was even a mural that had Led Zeppelin and Beatles records incorporated into it. Very cool. After a lunch of Smørrebrød (Danish open faced sandwiches), we finished the day at the Copenhagen Ice bar. It was so much fun! Everything was made out of ice--the cups, the bar, the chairs, the walls. There was even a motorcycle you could ride, but it was a chilly ride.

Day 3 was full of soccer, or should I say fodbold? First, my dedicate

d fans stood in the cold and watch my soccer game (we won 2-0) and then later that night we went to the FCK vs. Brøndby, the biggest rivalry in the Danish soccer league. The Brøndby got a little crazy and started fires. They even threw a firecracker of some kind onto the field! My mom was very concerned for the keeper's safety-- typical mom. After the game, we went to Sticks N Sushi for a absolutely fantastic dinner.
My last day with my mom and sister was full of shopping! We started in Malmö. After two or three hours shopping in Sweden we caught the train back to Copenhagen. We somehow made our way to Georg Jensen and Royal Copenhagen and after drooling over just about everything in the store we made up our minds and got some fabulous souvenirs. After we were all shopped out we made our way home and it was time to my mom and Caitlin to pack their bags. It was a whirlwind of a weekend and we packed a lot into four days. I hope that they had as much fun as I did!

My mom and Anne on the canal tour