Copenhagen, Denmark

After spending a few days in Amsterdam, my friends and I traveled to Copenhagen for the rest of the weekend. In addition to Oktoberfest, there is another event called Sensation White where basically all Richmond students, and most Americans in general, who are studying abroad attend. Sensation White is an electronic musical festival that hosts DJs all over the world and has a big concert in Copenhagen every November. Although I am not a huge fan of electronic music, I took advantage of the opportunity to see many of my friends from Richmond and to spend the weekend in Copenhagen. During my junior year of high school, I did a two week cultural exchange program and lived with a Danish family right outside of Copenhagen. While I was there we went into the city many times and although I had already seen all of the major sights, I definitely wanted to go back.

We arrived Friday afternoon around 3:00 pm and were shocked to look out of our plane windows and see that the sun was already setting! Two of my best friends from Richmond- Megan and Ali, are studying in Copenhagen for the semester so I was staying at their apartment with about 15 other people from Richmond. Leaving the airport, I had my first experience on the Copenhagen metro and was so surprised by how clean and easy to use it was! I easily found their apartment and spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with all of my friends. We went to get Thai food which was another nice break from Spanish only food and then met up with a lot of other kids, I would say around 50 in total, from Richmond.

The next day we went to this food market in the middle of the city where there were many different food stands with all different types of food. After having lunch and the best cupcakes I have ever had, we went to explore some of the city. The first thing I noticed that I had forgotten was how many bikes there were! I had thought there had been a lot of bikes in Amsterdam, but there were massive bike racks everywhere in Copenhagen.

 Thousands of bikes!

First we walked through a big park in the middle of the city where there are lots of greenhouses and gardens. It was really pretty but very cold! We all agreed that we needed to keep walking to keep warm so we headed to Nyhaven which is the most famous and touristy canal of the city. I had forgotten how colorful all of the houses and buildings that lined the canal are and I noticed that it was very similar to the style of the buildings in Amsterdam. There are many restaurants that line the canal but they all have outdoor seating and it was way to cold to sit outside! 

In the park

Nyhaven 

We kept walking to Amalienborg which is the winter home of the Danish royal family. Each member of the family has a different house designated for them and there is a big flag ontop of each house which indicates whether the family member is home or not. There are decorated guards that stand outside of all of the houses, regardless if the royal family is inside. I think it’s really interesting to see how although Denmark’s royal family now has no legal power or any say in political matters, they are still such a symbol and are highly respected. They also receive part of the taxes that are paid by the public. It would be interesting to hear about the public opinion on the family and whether they respect the tradition or if they think that the Royal Family is just lazy and taking advantage of their unlimited money supply. After seeing the Royal residence it was already getting dark so we walked along the canals and headed back to the apartment.

Amalienborg

After dinner (my first veggie burger in 2 months!) we started to pull out all of our white clothes and get ready for the concert. Everyone is required to wear all white and they will turn you away at the door if you are not dressed in all white. At first, I thought that it was kind of annoying that they were so strict about this rule but the second I got inside and saw the glow of white I agreed that it definitely added to the atmosphere of the concert. The concert lasted 6 hours and 4 different DJ’s played. When we first got there I didn’t think there was any way that I would be able to last 6 hours but as soon as we found the rest of the Richmond group it was so fun to see everyone that the time flew by! Also, there were all of these different trapeze performers during when the DJ’s played so it was pretty entertaining and I’m definitely glad that I went!

Waiting in line for Sensation White!

The next morning I had to get a flight back to San Sebastian and I really didn’t realize how far away Denmark is from Spain- it was about a 4 hour flight! I had such an awesome time in both Amsterdam and Copenhagen but I was happy to be back in the not so cold and dark San Sebastian!