Friday
We went to Emily's Kollegium and met some of her friends. I got to dance, met an excitable French dude, watch a great game of pool, and explore another part of this great city. I would totally stay in a Kollegium if I were here another semester. You get your own room but share a kitchen with about five other people who are probably Danish. I loved that they had a game room, a party room, and a bar.
Saturday
We were going to the Christiania Christmas market. But as I walked out of Christianhavn station, I could tell something was up. It was the same feeling I had in Berlin right before I saw that man in a pink rabbit costume get arrested. We walked out to the median and saw an endless streetful of people. We happened upon the climate march. Every group imagineable was there. The vegetarians, the hardcore environmentalists, unions, sherpas, people wanting the Iraq war to end, and communists (yes, there were actually self-proclaimed communists there). Standing on the median the crowd kept passing me on both sides. At times, banners were hitting me the face. Other times I had to duck under large signs that were too wide for just one side of the road. The road from Parliament to the Bella Center was completely shut down by the sheer force of numbers. The New York Times estimate was about 60,000 to 100,000. I saw dancing, listened to music, and saw more dredlocks than I have seen in a while. It was amazing to be part of it. Inflatable snowmen and people dressed in polar bear costumes were constantly passing by. There were even babies being pushed in their prams. Also, there were some dogs who are apparently eco-conscious. We stood there for about an hour and the end of the march was no where in sight. Then, we finally decided to head to the Christmas market that was held in this huge barn. There was very relaxing live music and a lot of Danes buzzing with Jul spirit. When we left, four riot vans with flashing lights pulled up to the stop light and cops piled out. They ran to a corner of Christiania. Apparently, four cars were on fire and one cop had his jaw broken by a thrown rock. So crazy. Afterwards, another fun night of dancing.
Sunday
Sweden. Yup, I went on a day trip to Malmö. Sweden is much colder than Denmark. We were walking around and looking for some place to eat. There was this unobtrusive middle eastern restaurant that was delicious. I had a great falafel sandwich and coffee. Everyone else went for the buffet, which included waffles. The place was really nice and had pretty pillows on the benches to make it more comfortable. I learned how to count in binary and reminisced about Mr. Cook. Such a plesant lunch. Then we went to brave the cold for a bit and strangely enough I realized that the squares had the same names as the stops on my bus route in København. Trianglen and Gustav Adolf. And the funny part is that these stops on the bus are also next to each other. Peculiar to say the least. We played with this amazing touch screen in Trianglen. Afterward, we tried St. Lucia buns because today is the holiday. A little lackluster after all the build up, but I can say I have had an authentic bun. Then we watched the singing. It was awesome to hear and then IT STARTED SNOWING. Large, lardy, white snowflakes!!! I was so excited. I watched my friends take a ferris wheel ride and then began the journey back to warm Tåsingegade.
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