It's never too late to try new things!

On Friday we had a tour of the Carlsberg Brewery as part of the social package. It was a pretty place and so big and old looking compared to the Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam. It wasn't fun though it was more just a history lesson, which was interesting. After having gone to the Heineken Experience, though, it was hard to compare. Carlsberg is the main beer in Denmark and it was cool to go to the brewery regardless.

After that Danna and I went to a bagel shop and I had my FIRST BAGEL since being here (everyone calm down.) For starters, my "everything" bagel was just a mix of poppy and sesame seeds. Where was my onion? Also, he wouldn't toast it and it wasn't fresh. Basically what I'm saying is nothing compares to bagels and more, Hartsdale, New York.

That night Morgan, Erik, Mack and I met up with Jenny, Pekka and Aisha at the Australian Bar (called A Bar). There were a LOT of CBS people there and ... wait for it ... from 11pm-12am it is FREE beer with no cover. I know, completely unheard of. So we enjoyed that for as long as we could, naturally drinking quickly and refilling frequently (Michigan football pregames anyone?). The bar was cool and boys were playing beer pong. We did a round of boys vs. girls flip cup and the girls won :). Then we played again and the boys won but who's counting anyway... There was another room with crazy lights and different, more upbeat/dancing music. Jenny and I danced in there and then we made our way to the famous meat packing district.

I can't believe it was my first time there! It's known for always playing house/techno/electric music and some people don't like that. We went to Aisha's favorite bar and it was SMF!!!! We danced for hours and I loved the music. It is nice to go somewhere where everyone is genuinely interested in dancing to the music and not with each other. At 3am the American girls wanted to leave and Pekka (Finland) and Erik (Norway/Denmark/England/Holland.......) were saying we were leaving so early. It was funny. We left anyway and they stayed until 5am!

Saturday Danna and I went shopping. We decided to go to a different area than we usually go and got off at the Nørreport stop on the metro. As we made our way to Nørrebro, we saw a beautiful lake and, in the middle, paddle boats. No one was on any yet but Danna and I looked at each other, and, without much discussion, both knew we wanted to go do that right away. We paid 80 dkk ($16) for an hour and it was so beautiful. We had a lot of fun and paddled around the whole lake! Then we went shopping for a little and made our way home. Right when we got home we left to go to a soccer game. Unfortunately the CBS people didn't buy enough tickets for everyone so we couldn't go. Instead, we got pizza and sandwiches and went to a park nearby to eat dinner. It was really nice.

mmm Pizza

At night we went back to the A Bar for another round of free beer. We hung out there for a while and had a really fun night! Best part of the night by far: An Irish sounding song came on and we all looked at Danna. She did Irish Step Dancing since 2nd grade! We made her go in the middle of the bar and do a jig. Suddenly the whole bar was clapping along and she was the only person dancing. When she finished she got a big round of applause.

Danna Irish Dancing

Today is another day where the weather forecast says raining but it's beautiful, so I am going to study (!) in the park with some friends.

PS: Countdown to Mom coming to CPH: 3 Days!
Countdown to Family trip to Italy: 6 Days!
Countdown to SCHOOL: 25 Days!!!!!!!!!

xo,
JOJ

HB Taryn, Miss You Already

On Wednesday I went to Christiania with Danna, Laura, Taryn and Laura's friend Hillary. We did some necessary shopping because they have the coolest/most unique jewelry there. We also got the delicious Shawarma for lunch and sat by the lake. After that we went to Strøget Street and did some more souvenir shopping. For dinner, we went to the park with the castle and had a little picnic. I read my book and we hung out for a few hours because it was so nice outside.

I miss you Taryn :(

Very funny to see what is considered "taste of America."

I do really miss Mac&Cheese!!

Thursday I had my last class! How weird,  I feel like I just started here and am SO sad that it is ending. Taryn is starting her job next week so she had to leave a week early. That means she left today (Friday). That meant last night was her last night...and today is her birthday. So many things to celebrate/go out hard for. We had dinner at a really good Thai place and then came back to get ready. After a big pregame in the PH common room with lots of card games and music, we went out to Kulor Bar. This is the bar I went to a lot in the beginning that gives you free beer till 1am after paying about $12 to get in. It's a pretty good deal. We danced all night - for hours - and once it finally got too hot to tolerate, we left and came home.

<3 I love you girls

Today we have a tour of the Carlsberg Brewery, which should be really fun!

xo,
JOJ

BBE

First off, thank you to everyone whose wall posts included some sort of acronym acquired from my blog. Love my FANS!

Monday I had a lazy day and read for hours after meeting up with Eliz, Rachel Ruderman's friend from home who is also studying in Denmark but through a different program (DIS). It's funny because no one on her program knows mine and no one on my program knows hers but we're all in the same place!

Anyway, Monday night Danna and I biked over to Valby (Sarah's small, far away dorm). I was welcomed with a "welcome shot" and then hung out for a while with Wes and Mark in Mark's room. At 11:55 I was laughing saying "how did I spend my 20th birthday? Playing backgammon." Then, at 12am, Sarah paraded in with basically her whole dorm with shots and singing happy birthday.  The best part - they all sang to me in their languages. I got sung to in like 4 different languages, it was SO nice/fun/surreal. Only in Denmark would anything like that happen. I was so happy. So then they had a nice little get together on their porch and we all hung out, laughed, told jokes, and began my 24 hour celebration.

The next morning I woke up and met some people outside my dorm. We made our way to Tivoli, the big, famous amusement park in Copenhagen. I have been dying to go all summer and figured what better way to spend my birthday than screaming on rollercoasters with my friends? It is also called Tivoli Gardens because it is not just an amusement park but a beautiful assortment of fountains, lakes, and gardens. We went on 3 rides which seems like very few, but, in fact, we waited for 2.5 hours for the last ride we went on. TOTALLY WORTH IT. At first we were hesitant, and a couple of people backed out, but the survivors -  Me, Danna, Erik, Aisha, Jenny and Sarah - toughed it out. It was an airplane that flew probably as fast as a real airplane (JK but so fast) and spun us upside down, twisted us around, and made us think we might just fly out and crash to ground (eek). It was soooooo crazy and fun. HERE'S WHAT WE DID - Crazy Airplane Ride.

Ready for the ride!

The different colored sprinkles are actually different flavors!

After the park I met up with 11 friends - including those I was with - for a nice dinner at Dalle Valle. This is a restaurant I have been to before that is so delicious and is half price on Tuesdays, which is very nice. I got a "Bahama Mama" recommended by Kelly (who is a bartender in Chicago). It was VERY good. When I got back from going to the bathroom after dinner, there were 12 cupcakes sitting in front of me and everyone sang. It was so sweet and the cupcakes were delicious. Then the waiter came over and awkwardly said we can't eat the cupcakes in the restaurant. So we left... My friends treated me to dinner and I am so lucky so have such sweet, considerate friends here (thanks guys).

After dinner we went back to PH and got ready to go out. I put on my party dress and shoes (neon dress and 5+ inch heels, standard) and went up to Danna's room. We had a really fun pregame where we played a game called "Get Fucked" - wish there was another name for it... It is fun because everyone can play and it goes really fast. The pregame was really fun and a lot of people came, including my favorite Italians! We then made our way to Billy Booze which is a discount bar that is usually fun. We basically started a dance party there because not that many people were dancing. It ended up being really fun but we decided to leave and go to L.A. Bar. On the way, I bumped into Eliz and her friends! We all went to LA Bar and had SUCH a fun time. Thank you to Jenny, Olgert, Erik and Hillary for staying extra late with me. I loved dancing and celebrating with everyone.

Playing games

Girls at Billy Booze

Dancing

In conclusion, BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!
Love you all. Thank you.

PS I ate another cupcake when I got home.

xo,
JOJ