Copen-Pest

Surprise, surprise, I'm late with my blog post. So I am combining my last two weekends, which will be interesting because they could not have been more different.

Two weekends ago I spent one and a halfish days in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was a large group of 8 people, which has it's ups and downs. The plus side is I don't have to fear being murdered and robbed everywhere I go, although I usually still do. We arrived in the airport about 5 hours early for our flight so we paid 10 euro for a mediocre cheese sandwich and took turns using the weak airport wifi, scrambling to finish weekend homework.

When we arrived in Copenhagen, we were greeted with the smack of icy Nordic air. It was certainly one of the chillier weekends, which was perfect as it also happened to be the one weekend I didn't pack a hat or a scarf. After the traditional 30-45 minutes struggling to find the key and unlock the apartment we rented, we went looking for a relaxed local bar.

The first place we tried was so overbearingly smoke filled we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces. You sort of have to realize it's a culture thing as much as anything else is. Eventually we settled down at this odd and slightly frightening bar by our apartments.

The next day we got up early and immediately set out for coffee and pastries which, besides tiny coffee cups and expensive public restrooms, is the easiest thing to find in Europe. We drank our coffee as we headed to Trivoli theater which was closed until April. Then we wandered around and stared at the once copper roofs weathered over the years into a gorgeous green-blue which I now am promising to design my future home around.

We got on a boat tour of the canals and sat outside for the better view until the wind chapped our faces so bad we all agreed to sell out and sit inside. We saw the Opera house, Hans Christian Anderson's house, the Little Mermaid statue and a ton of colorful harbors. We walked around a street market and gorged ourselves on fresh fish and baked goods and then wandered around the rest of the day. By the time we made it around to getting dinner, we were so cold and so starving we settled upon slightly overpriced burgers and ate in silence while our hands thawed. Later that evening we hung out in the apartment for awhile and eventually wandered around to find a fun local club. Being the dorks we are, we left way too early and most places were still empty. So we settled on a small Italian bar and had a quieter night than we had hoped for. Probably for the best- as we caught a cab at 6am for our flight home the next morning.

Now, onto Budapest. Well, I actually had a week of school in between there, but no one wants to read a blog about that. So, Budapest. One of my favorite weekends. Do I say that every time? Well it's true here. Budapest was sunny and warm and welcoming and cultured and fun simultaneously. I traveled with a few familiar faces and a few people I haven't had the chance to get to know yet, and it was a perfect group.

Saturday we slept in a bit and then rented bikes to get around. Best decision of the weekend. Besides being ridiculously fun to bike around the city, we also got to see so much more than if we had been walking and saved our legs too. We biked to a park where we climbed tree and swung on a big wooden swing in front of some medieval ruins. After riding around for a few hours we went to yet another market where I loaded up on cheap homemade soap (everyone has their weakness). We went right to a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter which was interesting and chilling.

The main event of the day was to go to The Baths which is a large public hot tub. I assure you it's significantly more appealing than that description would lead you to believe. Picture a few hours of relaxing in a super warm pool, staring at a startlingly clear sky, and hanging out with awesome friends and a few hundred Hungarian strangers. It was awesome, ok?

We didn't get dinner until almost 11:30 when we fell trap to what ended up being a super mutually beneficial tourist trap. A random woman saw us wandering around and asked if we wanted to come to her bar and eat and drink. Turns out, we did! We ate traditional hungarian goulash and sat at a table with our own beer tap. Half the group stayed in to prepare for an early flight but others (myself included) were taking a later train and stayed out.

Turned out to be a terribly weird (but not weirdly terrible) night. We got turned away from the very famous Ruin Bar and ended up at a small karaoke bar full of drunk and costumed locals. We tried to join in the fun and belted out a Kelly Clarkson song but unfortunately Kelly's cure for teen angst doesn't reach quite as far as Hungary, and we were booed off stage. Worth it.

Some of us stayed through Sunday where we had a relaxing day going to the zoo and seeing some more sights. Hungary proved to be full of very friendly people, super accessible night life and rich, interesting history. We ended our trip on a low with a 15 hour train ride through the night to immediately hop off and go to our Monday classes. Not much to say there, it was as brutal as you would picture.

Standard note of how amazed I am at the speed this trip is flying by at. This weekend is Easter break and I'm headed back to Italy... Florence this time. I'm ready for some warm weather and cheap pizza. Italy, I've missed you.