Copenhagen...

The Arrival:

Getting there was interesting. It started out good, I woke up at around 7 o'clock to meet everyone at 8:15 to make the 8:20 bus to the train station. It was all going well, we transfered trains in Stockholm and we were on our way. The train was going really slow because it was snowing, so we ended up being about 75 minutes behind schedule. We were stopped in Malmo for about an hour before they finally said in English that this train wasn't going to Copenhagen. So we get off the train with others who were also stranded. We found some people to follow that were also going to Copenhagen. It turned out that due to the Blizzard that they were experiencing, no trains were going or coming from Copenhagen. We were a little tiffed, but they said that they were having buses come to come and finish the last 45 minutes. We waited outside for about 30 minutes in the blizzard with a whole mob of other people. We were proactive in figuring out if the buses that were coming were going to Copenhagen, and we were eventually one of the first people on the first bus, however, when the others found out too, there was a whole lot of pushing and shoving to get on, it was definitely an experience. We were under the impression that the bus was taking us to the Central station, however, we were brought to the airport. So we were confused. Someone told us that we could just hop onto the metro and that would get us there. So we bought tickets for the metro but we apparently went to the wrong place. We almost got on a train that would take us back to Malmo, which would not be appreciated. We eventually found where it was and we bumped into the people we met at the Malmo train station again, and they gratefully helped us the rest of the way, on two metro trains. At about 8:30, we arrived at Copenhagen Central Station, we were expected to be there at 3:30. We were starving, so we ate McDonald's for the first time since arriving in Europe. While eating, we figured out how to get to our Hostel. We had to call them a few times during the day so they knew us well. Our hostel was only about 5 blocks away, so we made our way, in the slush, to our hostel and we were very happy to finally be there. We had our own room for 5 people and it wasn't that bad. We went to sleep early since we were exhausted. We woke up to check out of there by 10. We then had all day until we had to leave. We first thought it would be a good idea to figure out where we would be getting on our bus home. After a few failed attempts, we finally found it. Our first stop in our quest in Copenhagen was to find a place called Christiania, a place sovereign from Danish law, and only has a few rules, basically a hippie colony in the middle of Copenhagen. We of course got lost on the way there, but finally found it. The experience was weird, I felt very uncomfortable there and wanted to get out fast. You can't take any pictures in there, so I don't have many. We were only in there for about 10 minutes, and that was enough. The sign to get out says, "You are now entering the E.U". We were taking pictures of that sign when a car almost hit us. I had a bad reaction time, but I got out of the way quickly enough. It all happened really fast, but all was well. We then went to meet one of Jackie's friends, who is studying there, for lunch. She took us to the picture above to find a place to eat. We ended up eating at a wonderful place with a fireplace, which was nice since we were all freezing. We had a delicious meal and went on our way. We walked further along and ended up at the Palace. 4 houses, one belongs to the queen, one her son, her other son, and a guest mansion. After spending time with the marching guards, we made our way to The Little Mermaid. She's very small, but worth the walk. After an hour or so, we made our way back to the train station, walking along the main shopping street. A few blocks away from our Hostel, we found an Organ donation party happening in a square and they were serving free hot chocolate. There were DJ's playing music, and it was all really cool and fun. After spending some time, we made our way back to the train station to wait for our bus. We all had our own window seat, comfortable for sleeping. The trip home went well. At the border of Sweden, we had to go through customs and such. Then in Stockholm, we had to transfer buses. When we arrived at Uppsala Central Station, we ended up running to catch the #2 bus back to Flogsta. I immediately fell asleep and had a relaxing day yesterday.

I will write again tomorrow :)

Lindsay