As you can see from the title, last Thursday I celebrated my birthday! As excited as I was to be celebrating my birthday abroad, I’ll admit I was also kind of sad…all my friends and family (except for Alex!) were thousands of miles away in America, and I was here in Denmark.
But thanks to the awesomeness of my family and friends, both old and new, my birthday was absolutely fantastic! At midnight, Alex surprised me with tickets to see the Hunger Games opening weekend (we’re both huge fans!), as well as a few balloons to hang on the door and the wall. The next morning, I woke up and headed to my first class of the day, which is the class I travelled to Prague for. As I stood up to give my short presentation, the whole class started singing Happy Birthday to me! At 11:30, or 6:30am US time, my family called to wish me a happy birthday, all joining in on a very groggy, but much enjoyed, rendition of Happy Birthday! Afterwards, I headed over to the DIS Front Desk to pick up a package, which was full of birthday goodies from my family, and then headed over to meet Alex at the Glass Market, where we enjoyed some yummy fish’n’chips and Cokes (soda is expensive here, so its a rare treat!) Of course, no birthday is complete without a little cake, so afterwards we headed over to Agnes Cupcakes, where we enjoyed two delicious cupcakes, raspberry for me and Red Velvet for Alex. After lunch, I headed to my next two classes, where my friend Karen gave me a much appreciated tasty treat! Later that night, I met up with Alex and my roommate Nikita for my first drink (a daiquiri) as a 21 year old!
First drink as a 21 year old!
My day truly had a happy ending when I came home that night to Skype my family. I hopped on, expecting only to see my mom, dad, and maybe Jeffrey, but was surprised to find myself not only looking at them, but my grandparents and my best friend Christine, all standing around a Bertucci roll with a candle in it! Although I was unhappy about the torture of having to look at a roll from my beloved Bertuccis, I was so happy to see my grandparents and Christine, and was completely surprised! My mom then pulled out a Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream Cake (again, more torture!) and they all sang Happy Birthday to me again! We then chatted until I was practically falling asleep, then said goodbye!
But the celebration didn’t really end there, because that weekend, Alex and I decided to go away, this time to Belgium! We left Copenhagen Friday night and arrived in Brussels around 8pm. We headed over to our hotel, which was super nice…we had a king size bed!! After freshening up, we headed out for dinner, following the hotel’s recommendations for a local Italian restaurant. Despite a few difficulties regarding the language barrier, we ended up enjoying a delicious meal, along with crème brûlée and chocolate mousse for dessert! We then headed back to our room, where we watched a little Jimmy Fallon (so nice to watch some American TV!) then headed to bed.
Enjoying the park
The next morning we were up and, after breakfast, headed out to the Magritte Museum. On our way there, we took a walk through two local gardens, then stopped by the Royal Palace for a few photos. We then headed to the Magritte Museum, an entire museum devoted to the surrealist artist René Magritte. Although I didn’t really know much about him, the museum was still really cool, and it was interesting to see some of his work.
In front of the Royal Palace
After our visit to the museum it was time for lunch…aka time for us to get some Belgian waffles! My mom had told us about a waffle place in Brussels called Dandoy which was supposedly “the best,” so we decided to check it out and were not disappointed. The downstairs was a little bakery/chocolate shop, where they made the waffles. We ate upstairs in the quaint little tea room, where we dined on waffles with ice cream and chocolate syrup, accompanied by the necessary cold glass of milk!
Such a nutritious lunch.
After lunch, we took a walk around the town square, which was the coolest part of Brussels. It was a small square in the middle of town, surrounded by buildings in a variety of architectural styles…Renaissance, Gothic, Baroque, and so on. We also sampled some of Brussels famous chocolate shops, buying a few treats for friends and family, and, of course, ourselves!
Bruges
Around 3 or 4, we headed back to the hotel to drop off our goods, and spontaneously decided to head to Bruges, a small town various people had repeatedly told us to visit. It was a short ride, only an hour, and well worth it: Bruges was beautiful!! It is truly the epitome of the old European village: each building looks as if its been there for hundreds of years, the cobblestone streets are small and winding, and small canals run throughout. We decided to just walk around for a bit, buying some more chocolate, souvenirs, and taking a glance into a nearby church, which was so pretty.
After a while, we started to get a little hungry and, since it was St. Patrick’s Day, we searched around for an Irish Pub to get some fish’n’chips and Guinness! However, all we managed to find was a place called “Pub” which served spaghetti bolognese, lasagna bolognese, and ham and cheese. Close enough. Our meal was good, but wouldn’t you know that, 15 minutes after we left, we found a true, authentic Irish pub! Ah well! We walked around a bit more, despite the rain, until finally deciding it was time to head back before it got too late and too wet!
Rain isn't fun...but umbrellas makes great props for photos!
The next day, we were up again, bright and early, and headed out to visit the Musée du Cacao et du Chocolat…better known as the Chocolate Museum! It was a small museum, but definitely worth the 4 euro. Inside, we were able to watch a demonstration where a chocolatier showed us how he makes different kinds of chocolate, such as filled candies and molds. We then learned a little about the history and production of chocolate and were, of course, treated to quite a few samples!
Cocoa Couture?
After the museum, we headed out to visit Brussels most famous resident, Manneken Pis, a small statue of a little boy peeing. There isn’t a clear story as to why he is there, but the statue has become famous nonetheless!
Manneken Pis
We then walked around a bit more, taking in the sights before our flight home. We enjoyed a delicious mid-morning snack of Belgian fries (yummy!) and, after a brief stop into an English book store, a wonderful lunch at…Pizza Hut! As much as I love sampling new foods and eating European cuisine, it was so nice to have a taste of home, even though they didn’t have breadsticks! We then headed off to the airport, and caught our flight back to Copenhagen!
Enjoying fries and the sun
Looking back, I had no reason to be sad about being abroad for my birthday, because, thanks to all the amazing people I know, as well as a fantastic trip to Belgium, my birthday was truly a special day!
my adventures in copenhagen 