The Mod Muse

It’s great to be back in Copenhagen again! I know I said I would be ready to leave when the time came but that was when I was in Stockholm. Now that I am back I have already started thinking about how much I don’t want to leave. Ugh! Why am I so indecisive? Why can’t I just say forget it, I am moving to Copenhagen?! I started to make a list of pros and cons of New York and Copenhagen. Since I have been accused of not writing enough, I decided to share them on my blog and maybe that will incite some response from the peanut gallery.

New York Pros

*It’s one of the most exciting places on earth. You can do anything, anytime, anywhere in NYC 24/7.

*New Yorkers are lively, intellectual and totally radical.

*People are independent, free thinking and crazy.

*You can be anything you want to be in New York.

*You never know what’s gong to happen in NYC. There is craziness around every corner and that makes it exciting.

*New York has the best food, nightlife and fashion.

*It’s huge! Every street you walk down is different and exciting. You never know what you will find on the street.

*You are totally anonymous in a city of 8 million people. That can be very liberating.

New York Cons

*It’s expensive. Unless you have a lot of money, it’s difficult to have a high quality of life. Sure you can survive in NYC and there is some romance to that but you get tired of living in a crappy apartment and paying a lot of money for the pleasure.

Copenhagen Pros

Copenhagen Cons

Well my time in Stockholm is coming to an end. I’ve had a great time visiting with some new friends and seeing the sights. Stockholm is a great city! Although I have been here before I’ve never really explored it fully til now til now. I can easily say I have been up and down and all around this beautiful city. I have been staying with my sister-in-laws friends and they couldn’t have been more hospitable. This weekend I stayed at a flat in Ostermälm. I wasn’t feeling well yesterday (after 5 days of being in and out of the cold) so I decided to stay in for the day. Lucky for me my hostess had 3 seasons of Sex and the City on DVD to entertain me! I have never really invested in the show and have seen only episodes here and there but now I see why it is so popular. Even though most of the time I find the characters to be shallow and cold, I can appreciate the love affair they have with New York City.
Over the last week it finally hit me that I have just 6 weeks until I go back to my life in NYC and I have been feeling sad about leaving. I know it sounds corny after watching about 6 hours of Sex and the City last night I am starting to miss my life in NYC. It was cathartic for me to watch them gallivanting around the city having adventures. Somehow by watching a stupid t.v. show about these women’s lives in NYC,  I started to realize I missed my life as a woman in NYC. I have enjoyed my time in Europe but maybe when the time comes to say goodbye, I will be ready to go back. Who knows? I guess only time will tell.

Today is Inauguration Day and I am headed to Cafe Globen to meet some friends. The American Expatriates group I belong to is hosting a viewing party. Danish people are very excited for the event as well which surprises me. There are parties all over the city. I am so excited today!! I haven’t been very supportive of my country for some time (8 years!) but today I am quite proud to be an American. I know it will be difficult for Obama to sort the country out but I am glad my country has chosen someone who thinks about the little guy for a change. It’s going to quite emotional seeing the first black president sworn in to the most powerful position in America (probably the world). Can’t wait to start celebrating with my fellow Americans as well as the Danish friends I have met here. Go Barack!

On Sunday my friend Peter came to me from Esbjerg, a city located on the west coast of Denmark. It was good to see him and we had a great day walking around Copenhagen being tourists. Peter used to be what the Danes call a life guard (a soldier who guards the Queen) and it was interesting to walk around Amalienborg (the Queen’s residence) and learn about his duties as a guard. On my last trip to Copenhagen I neglected to see the little mermaid and Peter insisted this time I needed to meet her. I have to say it was cool to see the Lille Havfrue (Danish for little mermaid) in person but it was so dark by the time we made it there it was difficult to see her in all her glory.

But I thought it was very sweet Peter made such an effort to make sure I made the visit. Peter also made good on his promise to take me to Tivoli, a small amusement park in the middle of Copenhagen. It’s usually open only during the summer however during Christmas it is lit up with millions of lights and  X-Mas decorations. As you walk around there are stalls to buy various Christmas presents such as Nisse (elves or gnomes), funny hats, decorations, etc… and of course plenty of food stalls  selling traditional holiday food.  It was really lovely to walk around the grounds and soak up the holiday spirit. And even though we didn’t ride any rides (Peter and I share the same affinity for observing instead of riding) we both had a great time just spending time together.

We enjoyed a nice hot meal at Tivoli and later visited the Nisse Village (a really cute village with animatronic elves) where I ate my first bowl of  risengrød, a warm rice dish kind of like porridge they set out for the Nisse (elves) during Christmas.

After a busy  day of walking, eating and Nisse visiting, Peter and I decide to go back to his hotel and watch The Godfather 3. Peter had never seen it and I had fun telling him the whole back story. I think he liked it! It was sad to say goodbye to him the next day but I know I will see him soon and I look forward to visiting him in his hometown.

Well let me sum up my first couple days:

I arrived late Friday afternoon in Copenhagen after a short delay in London.  It was nice to spend a few hours in Heathrow browsing all the shops. I didn’t sleep on the flight from New York even though my plan was to have a short nap. Instead I stayed awake and watched an English movie called “The Duchess”. It was ok, basically a time killer. I did have a  short one hour nap from London to Copenhagen which I think helped enormously. After Camilla picked me up we headed to her flat in Fredriksberg. She has a sweet cozy place on the 6th floor (which is higher than most Danish apartments so we can see pretty far) which would be called a studio in America. Once I was settled we decided to take a long walk around the lakes. Copenhagen lakes are home to many birds but by far my favorite is the swan. I don’t think I have ever see so many swans in one place in my entire life. They are beautiful elegant creatures and it is a special treat just to watch them. Danish people however are very used to seeing them  and I think Camilla got a good giggle at seeing my reaction to them. Even though it was quite cold out I think the exercise was just what I needed to conquer my jet lag. I went to sleep the first night with no problems, I woke up a couple times but went right back to sleep.

Sunrise over Copenhagen!

Saturday some of Camilla’s girlfriends came for a visit and we listened to some music and enjoyed a few drinks. Later that night we all rode our bikes to a nightclub called Vega. It was fairly empty at first but really started to fill up around 1a.m. Although I feel Danish people can be friendly once you get to know them (especially if you are American) they aren’t exactly eager to talk to people at first. While at the bar I asked Melina and Louisa (Camilla’s friends) if they wanted to chat up some fellas. They looked at me completely horrified at the thought of going up to people we did not know and speaking to them. However after some prodding by myself Melina and I went up to a few guys and introduced ourselves.  Once I broke the ice, people were very eager to talk to me and once Melina and Louisa saw it was an effective way of meeting people they dragged me around to every good looking guy they wanted to meet and said ” Hi, my friend is American and she wanted to meet you.” I didn’t mind I was happy to help out. After the night was over we had to bike about 3km back to Camilla’s flat. Now biking sober is not so hard but when you are a bit drunk you really need to focus (I will write more about my bike riding experience in Copenhagen later). Needless to say I made it home safely and we spent the next couple days relaxing (well Camilla had to work a few days) and preparing for the holiday.

I cannot believe I am leaving today for Denmark! I know I have been talking about nothing but leaving for the last 8 weeks but now the time has finally come. Last night I had a lovely dinner with my good friend Leo, whom I haven’t seen in a while. Leo and I have had a lot of adventures and whenever we get together we talk about what new things we can try. Leo wants to climb Mount Everest! I don’t know. I suggested maybe a smaller climb first. But that is what I like about Leo, he is like me: a big thinker! Later we met up with my good friends Ben, George, Frances and my (gorgeous wedding dress designer) friend Mika at Lolita in the lower east side. After a few drinks George and Frances headed home and the rest of us went to Congee Village, a super tacky but totally authentic Chinese restaurant. The food was good but my stomach was killing all night long. Probably a combination of eating too late and nerves. Well I got to get packin’. Cars pickingme up at 5:00pm. Wow tomorrow I will be in Copenhagen! So hard to believe. I will really miss my friends and family but it’s also exciting to think about what lies ahead. Bye NYC, hello Denmark!

I have been staying with my friend Ben in Brooklyn (Boerum Hill) for about a week now. It’s a great neighborhood with plenty of shops and nice “Cosby Style” brownstones. Over the last couple days I have been brushing up on my bike riding skills by taking Ben’s bike out for a ride everyday. It’s a great bike and I have really been enjoyed cruising the streets of Brooklyn on it. Today I went to Trader Joe’s (way bigger than the Manhattan store) and picked up a few things for the party Ben and I are hosting tomorrow night. You can see the bag full of goodies in the picture. I just tucked the bag into the nifty little basket there and zoomed back to Ben’s place. Since bikes are the primary source of transportation in Denmark, I thought it best to get in some practice before I leave.  I can’t wait to get a bike and ride around Copenhagen!

Ha ha I couldn’t help posting this photo from Lol Cats.

As most of my friends know I am leaving soon for three months in Denmark. After getting laid off approximately two months ago (two hours after I bought a ticket to Copenhagen for the Christmas holiday) I took it as a sign that I need to take the next step in one of my life’s goals and spend some time in a major European city. I have always wanted to live in Europe. But in all honestly this trip is a trial run. I still have my cozy apartment in Manhattan and a little cat patiently waiting for me to come back home. If I do decide to stay in Europe after three months, well that’s a whole other post.