maia bittner

Copenhagen

The last 9 months or so of posts are about my semester abroad in Denmark. I went to class at Ingeniørhøjskolen i København and lived in the Vesterbro neighborhood.

Useful Copenhagen Websites

I live on the internet, so it’s important to me to have some resources available online. When I got to Copenhagen, I was sad to discover that few of my favorite websites worked or were supported there. After 6 months though, I’ve compiled a decent collection of sites. Enjoy!

• DBA - the classified sections of craigslist for Denmark.
• Rejseplanen* - public transit trip planner that includes prices and will text message you directions.
• FindVej - another trip planner, more map-oriented.
• mitKBH - the Yelp of Copenhagen!
• Hello Copenhagen* - great event-listing blog in Copenhagen - editors have a taste for art, parties, alt culture, etc.
• CPH Post* - Copenhagen’s English newspaper. fond of bad puns.
• DSB* - the train (both metro and regional) system’s website; I mostly used it for fare information
• The Student House - Copenhagen University-affiliated student bar that hosts lots of weekly events like Tai Chi and swing dancing.
• All About Copenhagen* - Restaurants, Shopping, etc., lots of editorial things like “Top 5 Beer Bars”
• Danish Government* - Turns out, when you live in a socialist country, the government’s important. Most information can be found somewhere within the depths of this site.

*Some or all content available in English

Kids & Coins & Denmark

My parents, being quite suspicious that I will never again live at home, have designated my time here for cleaning out my room. This morning, I was sorting through my collection of wheat pennies, Susan B. Anthony’s, pesos, loonies, and other prized coins every child has when I found a 10 and 25 Danish øre coin that someone must have given me. I never saw the coins in Denmark — apparently the coins have been out of circulation for a while. Cool :)

money

I have 4 different currencies in my wallet — and I just realized that I won’t be in a country that uses euros again before I go home!

Bavaria

visited Bernhard in Bavaria. it was so cool to see the mountain and rivers and lakes that he’s spent months so fondly describing to me. I only wish I had scheduled more time to spend there - it was easy relaxing, and it was nice to stay in a “real home” instead of all these shoddily-furnished dorms, hostels, student housing, and couchsurfers living rooms.

It makes me realize how few of my boyfriends have seen where I grew up, which makes me kind of sad. I want to say hey! this is the land that shaped me, this is where I got my first ideas of what the world was like, these are the places that helped to shape my interests and the various personality quirks that make me who I am, the person you like! but, I never live anywhere near home, so it’s hard to date someone who could reasonably visit. I suppose.

Budapest

I arrived in Budapest this morning via the Austrian RailJet train from Salzburg. I was planning on seeing David Guetta at Balaton Sound music festival with Nick Hays, but I balked at the 50 euro tickets and by the time I finally worked up the nerve to buy them, they were sold out. So today I’m on my own, and I’ll meet up with Nick tomorrow.

I’m staying in a hostel which is just 9 euros a night! I love the prices here. Today I tried to go to a communist-themed pizza place, but got horribly lost. Instead, I stumbled upon a neat park in Buda. it’s an old industrial area and the city has kept the exterior of the old warehouses intact, but renovated the inside into art exhibits and cafes. the ground between is a park with soft grassy areas and reflecting pools, and there’s an outdoor concert stage.

On my way home I went to a festival - first it had an energetic jazz band playing, then a sweet classical band. I got a whole plate of different cheeses for 800 HUF. I think I will spend more money here than in France, just because everything (the hostels, the metro, the cheese & the ice cream) seems like such a good deal, and I have no incentive to avoid buying it.

Final Plans

With a little over a month left in Europe, I’m trying to figure out how to jam everything I want to do here into the short amount of time left. Here’s what my plans look like so far: 

June 17 - June 23: My momma visits in Copenhagen

June 23 - 29: Paris with my mom

June 30ish - July 3rdish: camping at Roskilde, a crazy 110,000 person 4 day music festival here in Denmark, with Dan Cody

July 4 - 7: Madrid with Dan Cody, visiting Soren?

July 7-15: ??? Maybe traveling with Richa, maybe going to Munich/Vienna/Italy/St.Petersburg, maybe visiting Anna & Trevor in Norway

July 15: Fly home!!

things I like about Danish (language)

• there is just one word for boyfriend/girlfriend (it sorta means dear one)
• in the sentance “Maia bought Tessa coffee with her money”, the word “her” is different depending on whether it refers to Maia or Tessa
• one doesn’t “have sex”, they “grow sex”

I just saw a woman, elegently dressed with a fur shawl and heels, bike down the street in the rain with another young woman, this one smoking a cigarette, in the box on the front of her bike

Denmark has not enough

• water pressure in my shower
• coffee in my coffee cups (6 ounces? come on!)
• service in restaurants. I’m lucky to see my waiter more than once every 20 minutes.