Hey! So it’s almost been a week since I’ve written on here. I guess I will tell you about my little sailing excursion I went on this past weekend. DIS has trips that you can sign up for like sailing trips, a trip to Bornholm were you ride bikes, and day trips to castles. I am going to Elsinore Castle this coming weekend, where Hamlet supposedly took place. I’m sure my high school English teacher, Mr. Ferrarello would have jealous that I will be seeing it.
Anyway, back to the sailing trip. Those going on the sailing trip were to meet at Copenhagen Central Station at 7:15AM on Saturday. Ugh. Way too early. I also went out on Friday night, so I was running on only a little bit of sleep. Oh well. So I packed a change of clothes, a blanket and a pillow thinking that would probably be all I needed. I wore my sneakers thinking I was smart. Well of course as soon as I left my house it starts to pour and I mean pour! The blanket and pillow I was carrying were completely soaked. As I walked to Bernstorffsvaj station some guy at the station laughed at me. I guess I looked like a sight carrying a blanket and pillow with me and walking up all soaked from the rain. I finally arrived at the station, met my group, and we took another train, this time a regional train to Halbaek, Denmark. Still raining, we walked to where our sailboat awaited us.
The boat was really cool, and had an underground compartment where all our beds were and there were tables, too. I laid out my blanket since it was really wet. We played some card games while we were on the trip since it was raining and hanging out on top of the ship it was too cold and rainy. They stopped at an island called Oru, and we walked through some woods. It was alright, I guess, except that it was still raining really hard. On this island, the Danish military used to train there. The two guys who work on the ship took us on a walk on the island. They always had a cigarette in their hands. I figure they probably smoke at least a pack a day. I noticed Danes smoke a lot more than Americans tend to. In the US, people that smoke are looked down upon by some and they are forced to smoke away from people. Not the case in Denmark. Anyway, the island still had some old places where the soldiers would train. There was an old zip line. Soren, one of the guys who works on the ships, decided to go down the rope zip line with one of the guy’s from out trip’s belt. Then the guy with the belt, Demitri, went down. When Katie, a girl from the group decided to go on she fell face first in the ground. Thankfully she was okay. If her face had hit a rock or something that might have been bad. Soon we came back to the ship completely soaked from the rain. Thankfully I had a change of pants.
It finally stopped raining so some of the people from the trip decided to jump off the ship into the water. I was not swimming in that water. It looked super cold. We also learned to put up the sails, which was really fun. Soon, we docked in Frederikssund, Denmark. We decided to walk around the town and see what there was to do, which was not much. Unlike the U.S, where most towns on a Saturday night have fun things to do with music playing and people walking around, Frederkssund was like a ghost town. Most of the shops were closed/ closing when we walked around and we passed maybe one bar. We walked past one house that was having a party; we could see a bunch of teenagers/ 20- somethings with beer through the windows. Bet the neighbors loved them.
That night, everyone had to do a night watch. It is a law in Denmark that when there are guests on the boat, someone has to be watching the ship. I don’t understand why “the guests” aka- us had to do our own night watch, nor have no idea who would possible come and intrude on the boat, but hey it’s all a part of the experience. Me and another girl, Hanae, had to get up at 5:45 for our watch. It was, of course, raining.
All in all I had a great time. Other than the sea sickness I got trying to make lunch on Sunday with my group, everything, including the rain, was worth it. I think I like being on ships.
This week has been good. Yesterday, I went out with my Danish class to the Fransk Café. We had a good time. A coupe of the girls and I went out afterwards. Today I went to finally see all of the touristy things you are supposed to do in Copenhagen. However, there was something wrong with all the trains. When I got on my train to go to Copenhagen, my train didn’t move. Then they made an announcement in Danish, which of course I did not understand. I saw the passengers on the train all sigh. I asked a girl next to me what was going on. She said that we all had to get off at the next station Hellerup and get on a different train. It then took 45 min to get to Copenhagen, which normally is only a 15 minute ride.
Eventually, I met up with my friend Victoria and met her friend Melissa. I finally saw Nyhavn, the Little Mermaid, and Amaliaborg Castle, where the Queen lives. I don’t think she was home as her flag was not up. The Little Mermaid is like the Mona Lisa. Hyped up but not all that impressive in real life. Here are some pictures.
Until next time-
Jenna
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