As I mentioned in my last post, I am participating in a Danish Homestay program as a part of a program offered by Western Canada High School and Robert Thirsk to its students. Currently, we have just wrapped up Day 2 of the trip and the first day that we did not spend entirely on a plane. This entire experience feels quite surreal right now as I’m typing this in my Copenhagen hotel room at 10:00pm, perhaps because my inability to sleep on planes has caused me to be awake for more than 30 hours now. Luckily, our enticing first day in Copenhagen was more than enough to shake me from my sleepless trance.
After a 9 hour continental flight followed by a short layover in Frankfurt, our group of 35 finally arrived in Copenhagen at 11am local time. Though it was what would’ve been the early hours of dawn Calgary time, we were fascinated enough by what we saw on the bus ride from the gorgeous airport to our downtown hotel that it kept us awake. The first stop we hit up was a local sandwich shop that sold smørrebrød, a traditional Danish open sandwich. Our afternoon consisted of a walking tour of downdown Copenhagen and Strøget, one of Europe’s longest pedestrian road filled with shopping and street food. We also managed to fit in a visit to the Round Tower, which was once an observatory for Tycho Brahe. Nyhaven, the famous canal postcard scene, was our last tour stop and we were able to get a canal tour that let us see the intricate canal systems of Copenhagen and many landmarks, such as the opera house and the Royal Library. Tired and massively jet-lagged, we concluded our first day with a Danish buffet-style dinner.
There were many things initially that surprised me, the first being that there are bikes EVERYWHERE. I knew beforehand that Copenhagen was a very bike-friendly city but past every corner we strolled by there were bikes and bike pathways! We were probably quite a nuisance to drivers everywhere since we kept unknowingly crossing streets with the locals when the lights were actually red. The traffic control lights were smaller and less noticeable and instead of having one light for a crosswalk, there were usually two, sometimes even three to cross just one street! Also, lights turn yellow before they turn green. Everything was very close together as well. I had often heard that everything in Europe is closer together because an individual country is smaller, and it definitely is a huge change from spacious Canada. Our hotel room is one of the smallest I’ve ever seen, but gives off a cozy vibe, a common theme for the city. Graffiti is also aplenty here, but also makes for a beautiful and lived-in look. The ambiguity of the language was an interesting aspect and made it very interesting. While under a bridge during the canal tour, we even saw graffiti that read “No facism :)”. It was really quite an extraordinary first day and first time in Europe for me and we are set to visit many castles and museums on Day Two. See you then! For more photos of my time in Denmark, follow me on my Instagram.