The Homestretch

The other day, a startling thought hit me: I’d be home in a month.  I realized that there’s still so much here in Copenhagen that I have to see and do, and frankly, its overwhelming.  Luckily, the weather has been nicer, and so, since I’ve come back from spring break, I’ve been able to do a bit of exploring.

Last Sunday, I went on a school trip to the Copenhagen Zoo with some of my friends, which was fantastic!! My friends and I enjoyed walking around the zoo and looking at all the animals, which included the typical elephants, giraffes, and tigers, but also included Malayan Tapirs (a random favorite of mine), Red Pandas, and Tasmanian Devils (which look nothing like the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes, but are actually cute).

We also got to see the lions being fed, which was kind of gross (they were basically given a huge slab of raw meat…yuck!) but, at the same time, kind of cool, because I’ve never seen a lion do anything except lay on a rock and sleep! I love animals, and always enjoy a trip to the zoo. It was nice to see some different animals, as well as to spend some time with my friend from school!

At the entrance of Tivoli!

Yesterday, a couple of my friends from class and I went to Tivoli Gardens, which is the second oldest amusement park in the world and one of the inspirations for Disneyland! I’ve been wanting to go here for a while, and was so excited to finally be going.  And I was not disappointed! As soon as we entered the park, I felt like I had been transported somewhere else…it was hard to believe that I was standing smack dab in the middle of Copenhagen!

Tivoli has tons of rides which you have to buy tickets for, but my one friend wasn’t too keen on doing rides, so we skipped out on that and decided to just walk around instead, taking in the beautiful scenery, enjoying the nice weather, and, of course, taking tons of pictures!! It was so much fun to wander around the park and explore the different areas, such as the Asian-themed area (complete with cherry blossoms and a Japanese pagoda!), and to see all the little exhibits and attractions, like a giant pirate ship and small Danish village.  It was so much fun, and I can’t wait to go back with Alex!

The Japanese garden in Tivoli

On Friday, Alex and I went to the Danish Resistance Museum, which is a small museum all about Denmark’s role in World War II. During the war, Denmark was invaded by Germany so that Germany could push through to Norway. After a small fight, Denmark surrendered and accepted their occupation, so long as they were able to be autonomous and self-governing.  While this role changed quite often during the war, Denmark still had quite a bit of power over itself, unlike other invaded countries at the time.  Furthermore, Denmark was able to get most of their Jewish population to Sweden…less than a 1,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps, and less than 100 died, which, compared to other countries, is low.

Statue of Liberty!

Afterwards, we decided to be super Danish and indie and to go see this movie called Volcano at the Copenhagen Film Festival…but, at the last minute, we decided we didn’t want to waste money on some movie we probably wouldn’t enjoy, and went and saw The Avengers in 3D instead, which was pretty much the exact opposite of an indie Danish movie, but was really really good!!

On Saturday, Alex and I went on a school trip to Legoland, which is regarded as Denmark’s Disney World and a rite of passage for Danish children.  While it definitely did not compare to Disney, it was still really cool.  I liked Miniland the best, which was an exhibit consisting of various sites and cities built entirely out of Legos! They had a lot of sites in Denmark and Copenhagen, plus a few random ones like a Beverly Hills movie set, Schloss Neuschwanstein (a gorgeous castle in Germany), the canals of Amsterdam, and the Statue of Liberty.

I got to see Neuschwanstein castle...in Lego form!

There was also a giant replica of Mount Rushmore made out of Legos, plus an exhibit of scenes from Star Wars.  Also, all the rides were Lego-themed, and the little figures and scenes were made out of Legos too…so cool! While many of the rides were aimed at little kids, we still managed to find a few we enjoyed. Although it rained most of the day, forcing us to splurge on ponchos to keep us dry and from getting cranky, we still had a great time!

At the top of the Spiral Church

Yesterday, Alex’s friend Stacy came to visit, so we took her around Copenhagen and showed her some of the city’s sites.  We went across to the neighborhood of Christianshavn, where we climbed the to the top of the Spiral Church, which is a gorgeous church with one of the two spiral steeples in the entire world.  Getting up there was difficult, considering the stairways were quite narrow and so many people were going up and down (tourist season has begun!), but once we got up we had an awesome view of the city!

Go FC København!

After getting a pastry to reward ourselves, we saw the Marble Church, one of Copenhagen’s biggest churches, and then headed over to show Stacy the Little Mermaid statue.  Then, we all went to the nearby stadium to watch the Copenhagen football game! While FC København may not be one of the biggest teams in the world, it was still a fun experience, made even better by the fact that Copenhagen won!

While I’ve done so much already, there’s still so much for me to see and do before I head home to the good ol’ USA! Time is flying by, and while I’m having an amazing time, I am getting excited to go home…I miss my friends, my family, my room, and American food! But it’ll be here before I know it, so I’m trying to make the most of my last few weeks here…therefore, it might be a while until I post again! I’ll try my best though!