Denmark was . . .

Denmark was . . . terrifying, stressful, viciously cold, but absolutely worth it. We met all the nicest people in the city, and left with a generally positive perspective. All I can say is that God was really watching out for us on this trip.

Sophia, Julia, Kendall, and I left from Berlin Schönefeld airport at 7PM on Friday night, bracing ourselves for the 40 minute flight ahead. About 20 minutes into the flight, the captain's voice crackled over the loudspeaker, "We have now reached our cruising altitude. We will begin our descent shortly."

We arrived at the Copenhagen airport, and were instantly bombarded by Danish signs. The first half of most Danish words look exactly like German words, but, as my friend Sophia put it, the second half "falls apart and makes no sense." The four of us bumbled our way through the airport, bought metro tickets, and hopped on the train, feeling secure that we knew what we were doing.

Kendall and Julia

Me and Sophia

Clearly, we actually had no idea what we were doing. We got off the Metro at Christianshavn, expecting our hostel to be just around the corner. It wasn't. We were in possession of a terrible map, and could not find our location on it. As we wandered, it became later and later and we became more and more lost. Finally, I asked a group of women in their forties who looked like they were on their way to a bar if they knew where the hostel was. One of the women exclaimed, "oh my goodness, we cannot have four girls wandering around here at night like this," and promptly pulled out her iphone and looked up the address for us. Then, she pointed us in the right direction, gave us her name (Christina) and phone number, and told us that if we really couldn't find it to call her and we could sleep on her floor for the night.

I was terrified, cold, and not handling the stress of being lost in an unknown city very well, but the others were relatively calm, and finally, finally, at 10:45 at night, we made it to the hostel.

The hostel itself was rather nice, as hostels go. We had a four person room to ourselves, and the beds were very comfortable.

It was around this time that Sophia realized that she lost her wallet. She had had it at the airport, but now it was gone. She emailed her dad and he canceled her cards. Luckily, she had her passport on her--the most important document when traveling.

This was truly an amazing story.

The next morning, her dad emailed her. A man had found her wallet, somehow figured out her home number, called her house in the US, gave her dad his phone number, and her dad emailed her the number. Sophia called the man, named Kim, and he gave us directions to his house, which was only a 5 minute bus ride from our hostel. Sophia and I made our way down there. Not only did this man find her wallet, but as we got on the bus to go get her wallet, the bus driver would not let us pay for the ride, and allowed us to ride for free. Every single thing was still in Sophia's wallet, including her money and her cards. It was truly incredible that she was able to get it back. God works in crazy, insane ways sometimes. It just makes me feel so good to know that there are good hearted people in the world.

Copenhagen itself was COLD. With windchill, the temperature dipped below -10 degrees fahrenheit. We were mostly walking, and so we got very cold, very quickly. But Copenhagen is a beautiful city.

100 Danish Kroner, equivalent to 17 US dollars. You could not expect to find a piece of pizza in Denmark for less than 30 kroner, or 6 US dollars. I believe I payed around 10 dollars for a milkshake. 

This church was incredible beautiful.

Pipe Organ

Sophia and I in front of a cannon at an old Danish fort

Guards of the Danish royal palace. The queen lives here.

Sophia and I at the coldest picnic ever

Rosenborg castle. I was proud of my gothic photography.

There were a lot of creepy statues. I think this one, personally, looks like a zombie frothing blood at the mouth.

Icy river.

If you are any one who knows me at all, you will know that my real reason for coming to Copenhagen wasn't just because it was somewhere to go. Since I was 12-years-old I have been obsessed with Viking culture, and ancient Scandinavia. I came to Copenhagen for the Viking exhibit at the National Museum. I perused the  collection of Viking artifacts for a total of 3 hours. This was the first time I have ever viewed any Viking artifacts in person, and just because of this I would have considered the trip well worth it.

Viking rune stone! Also,  my knowledge of Viking runes allowed me to pick out a few words here and there.

Thor's hammer

Women's brooches.

VIKING SWORDS, KNIVES, AND AXES!!!

Like I said, I could read some of the rune stones. Here is an example.

While there were many stressful times, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip. I definitely learned a lot, and got some good stories out of it too. Next time I travel to an unknown country, I will make sure I know how to find the place I am staying.

We arrived in Berlin on Sunday night, thoroughly exhausted, but feeling like we had come home.