Settling in to Copenhagen

Here I am in this beautiful city by the sea. The temperature reminds me of early Spring with warm days and cool nights. It´s amazing that it´s July and I have to carry a jacket in my bag or I may get too cold. However the most eery thing is the light when you are this high in latitude. The sun barely goes down for about 4 hours so at 11:30 you can still see light and at 3:30am the sun begins to come back over the horizon, it´s really bizarre but it makes you get more done because you get up earlier and stay up later.

The train from Paris wasn´t bad at all as I had a sleeper in 1st class and got a few hours rest. However the conducter stopped to give me my ticket because my stop was coming up soon so I got up and collected my things. I got the train at Hamburg HBF just as it said on my ticket. The station was a little smaller than I had imagined but no worries... WRONG!

I stopped by the information desk and the girl told me that I needed to go to the "main" station! Another girl and myself were both headed to Copenhagen and made the same mistake, and she has family there so she must usually go a different route. The girl told me to take the metro so we both hopped on and then got out and we weren´t even close. There was noone on the streets at 8:30 Sunday morning and we were both very surprised. We had about 30 minutes to get to the station and make our train so when I spotted a cab I took the opportunity. A 30€ cab ride and we made it with about 10 minutes to spare. The only thing that I had eated in about 16 hours was my last meal at Fred´s. Since I didn´t have time or money to get anything at the station I survived on a free Snickers bar and coffee from the first class car. Sometimes being older and not getting the reduced tickets has it´s privileges :) Next I was amazed by how the train crossed the sea between Germany and Denmark by ferry. I had no idea that we would do that so I was astonished when the conductor said that once we pulled into the ferry we would have to deboard for the ferry ride. It was pretty cool because the train just pulls into the ferry on tracks, then pulls out on the other side. I have some cool pictures of the train that I will post soon when I remember my adaptor.

So after arriving to Copenhagen the lovely Karina met me at the station to give me my key. I was very thankful because she took an hour or more to find me on a Sunday, Skøl to her! I decided to get some practice in for my trip so I walked to my apartment with the pack and all through walking boulevard, very cool. When I arrived I knew what was waiting because as always I was on the top floor of the building. I was surprised to learn that I had a roommate because I asked for a single room before I was thinking about couchsurfing it, and since they made me take a place I wanted a single room because sometimes you just want the comfort of your own place. I stopped by the office to see about my room and they said they would email me... I stopped by two days later and they hadn´t even looked but the lady was nice and took a some time to help me find a cheap, single room with a shared shower. No worries because I was sharing a shower with 8! But it is unfortunate because we had a nice kitchen and a French press for my coffee but I can manage something at my new place, there´s no oven but it has a fridge and two burners so that´s enough for 5 1/2 more weeks.

Classes are a little bit of a joke so far. An Italian woman whose English is very broken and one 15 page paper to grade, remind you of anywhere lovelies? The other is corporate finance but I don´t think that the exam will be difficult based on today´s class. All the better for your narrator since I am looking to enjoy myself.

On to the question of money. As everyone knows the dollar is no longer the currency of power and so it´s an exponential effect being in the fourth most expensive city on earth. A six-pack of beer in a little corner grocery is $12, granted the beer is excellent. The average dinner at a restaurant based on signs, not having eaten, is about $30-40 without beverages!!! I am only eating a breakfast of meusli and yogurt with a coffee press, a small snack and a piece of fruit for lunch and then a dinner. When you count in that I am walking so much I must have already lost a kilo since Sunday, lol. But I have to be very careful because it´s so expensive. One last example is a metro ride is $3.50 for one hour of travel, incredible! Sean is learning how to be frugal and humble at the same time.

The upside is that I am in a beautiful city and meeting heaps of great people at the same time. Last night there was a little backyard BBQ and I got sloshed with people in my flat and the the neighbors across the street, it was a heck of a good time and cheap too! Life is good, maybe tastes a little better when you have to make the ends meet. I appreciate everything a great deal right now...