Hej from Copenhagen. Week four in Thorburn vs Europe 2k7 is coming to a close from the beautiful land of Denmark and what a week it has been.
First and foremost I have to talk some trash about Easyjet. To quote my friend Taylor "Seriously, anything called "easyjet" has to be very cheep, tin can kinda airplane." That about sums it up. It's like Southwest Airlines and Greyhound had a love child and then abandoned it. My main beef with this company is that they don't connect flights or transfer luggage. I'll explain, let's say you need to get from point a to point b, we'll call point a Malaga, Spain and b Copenhagen, Denmark just for fun. Now since Easyjet is all thuggish ruggish and doesn't fly anywhere without stopping at London Stansted, you basically have to connect points a and b with c, c being Stansted. No biggie right? Well unfortunately this meant about an 800 hour layover sitting around an airport that can only be described as a "wasteland" by anyone who has ever flown.
Now this wouldn't be a gigantic deal except that there was a flight to Copenhagen that left 40 minutes after I arrived in London. Here's a quick explanation of why no connections = suck. You have to go through customs and then pick up your luggage and then go check-in again then go back through security and customs again just to sit around for five hours in an airport with nothing to do. It really added injury to insult. The only way I can equate this is going to a restaurant and being forced to order appetizers, then giving up your table so someone else can have appetizers while you sit by the dumpsters, then switching back with them so you can have your main course. To quote Laura the advisor, "You get what you pay for."
And speaking of getting what you pay for. The so-called "low fair" airlines in Europe are all scams. They advertise they great prices which tragically double due to taxes, company surcharges, credit card charges, ticket charges, using a phone, the internet, or at the desk charges (are there any other options for getting tickets? I dunno maybe a scalper will hook you up). Basically if it says $90 flight (converting prices), expect to actually pay around $200. On top of that, there are zero free bevies or snacks on the planes. To say the least, I am wildly disappointed with the cheap airlines that people always ask me about. Ryanair sucks, Easyjet sucks, myair.com (who wants to fly on an airplane that has a web page address on the side anyways?) sucks. If I had the chance to do it all again, I would have spend the 700 euro to get a month long Eurorail (is that even a word?) pass and just taken the long way. I woulda gotten better views, no sickness, and could probably have avoided screaming children. On the downside you can get stuck with a fantastically odorous cart-mate who wreaks of body odor, wet socks, and poop. Nice enough guy though.
Now on to Copenhagen. This is a really cool city and I suggest anyone studying abroad in the near vicinity (read: Europe) come check it out if you have a place to stay. It's a very down to earth city, the people are generally kind and polite and there are lots of places to go and see. Plus the nightlife is honestly far superior to anywhere I've been thusfar. I'm not a huge "go out and get drunk kinda guy" and I generally scoff at the "nightlife" sections of the big Europe guide books, but I've had more fun here standing in line to get into a club than I did in Leicester actually inside the clubs. And inside is even better, it's like a scaled down version of the crazy club from the opening of XXX (The Vin diesel flick not Ron Jeremy porn, pervs).
I only have two complaints and they're pretty weak at that. First, it's morbidly cold here. My friend was trying to convince me that it was about 70 degrees last week but I'm totally skeptical. It's the kind of cold that stings. I'm guessing this is the part of the world people like Santa Clause flourish in. The second downside is the price. I don't think I've blown through money this fast at any point in my life before. Drinks run 10-20 bucks a pop which quickly rips into the bank account, so plan accordingly. Actually let me take that a step further, anyone traveling in Europe needs to take whatever their budget is and double it. If the price of drinks won't get you, Easyjet will find a way to.
So, the city has a great atmosphere, but I know what everyone is thinking. Guys are wondering about the womenfolk and you womens (not a typo) are wondering about the dreamy Dolph Lundgren-type hunks waltzing around the streets. The honest truth is that the stereotype is dead on about Scandinavian people. They are tall, thin and beautiful. I feel like the fashion industry has missed out on this part of the world by not getting 100% of their models from here. It's ridiculous, and the people are so good looking they can wear whatever the hell they want. Guys in white leather pants with tattoos running down their forearms? Bring em home to your parents girls. Girls with massively puffy bleach blond hair in biker boots, wifebeaters (it's a type of undershirt), and strange jeans? Your mothers will love them guys. I don't even know what to do with myself, this city is so attractive it's scandalous. Bill Clinton would go into conniptions if he was in power here. I'm at a loss of words.
To digress quite a bit, I've been staying with a female friend and apparently she (am I wrong in thinking that at least 90% of American women are?) is an Oprah addict. This is something I originally couldn't understand, I tried to explain it and it ended up getting me into trouble about my inability to understand gender relations (I do have a penis after all which makes me automatically bad at gender relations). Despite this I have to agree, The Oprah rocks. Annie borrowed some DVD collection "Best of" type thing and I got hooked on it worse than Lost. I, sadly enough (I can feel my testosterone going out the window), found myself wondering what the other "Heart Songs" and "Stars" (interviews with celebrities) would show me about people. People overcoming immense hardships and obstacles while staying positive, seeing the other side of a celebrity's personality. I totally (see I'm already talking like a Valley Girl) see women love this show. It's like ESPN, Beyond the Glory, Entourage, and Queer Eye mixed into one big shebang. So to answer the title question, what The Oprah and six foot model-types have in common is that I like them. Rock on Oprah, rock on.
In a completely different vein, I'm ready to go home. I've stated in previous blogs that this trip has felt like on big vacation and it's still true. It is, despite what people say, exactly what I called it: a trip. As Annie pointed out it might be a quarter of your year, but in the grand scheme of things it's really not that much. If there is one thing that being abroad has taught me above all else, it's how much I really value home and the daily things I've taken for granted. I've got less than a month until I'm done here, and it's going to be fun, but I think I could head back to Texas today and feel fulfilled. I got what I was looking for out here, I hope anyone else who goes abroad or is planning to finds that "something" as well.
Copenhagen, good stuff.
Chris
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