Deer Attacks and Lego Stacks: My Weekend in Northern Denmark

Hello and Welcome back! My name is Mira Hayre, giving you the play by play on my Exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark. Today we have a new instalment of my personal blog and we will be covering my Denmark tour from earlier this September (2 weeks ago to be exact). Good thing my memory is razor sharp. I remember absolutely everything. And yes, if my grade 3 classmates are reading this, I do remember crying after losing tic tac toe for us in grade 3. The fact that the capital of Saskatchewan is Regina and not Saskatoon is very confusing, and you guys were certainly not very understanding of my mistake. Do not test this razor sharp memory people.

Anyways… back to the Denmark Trip.

From September 14^th– 16^th I participated in a Denmark tour organized by CBS Exchange. It would give us a taste of Denmark outside of Copenhagen, which is not easily accessible without a car (or expensive flights), so I figured it would be a good trip. As an over view we visited Aarhuus, Aalborg, Skagen and Bilund.

Friday, September 14^th: Bright and early we all met at 7:00 AM just outside Porcelaenshaven. Thank god we met outside my building, I needed more sleep. My sleep while Indra visited was sub-par, that girl may be an adventurer by day but she is most definitely a blanket-hog by night. Debbie, Esen, Tina (friends from my cohort) and I snatched a 4-seater spot with a table in the middle on the bus ride. That was a power move. Esen and Debbie taught us this Vietnamese card game that is pretty much the eastern Asian version of Bhabbi. It was super fun; it took a while to get used to but was definitely a great way to spend an hour or so. It’s called Ice Breaker for those who are curious. For my cousins, you will be taught this game at Christmas dinner, be prepared to get crushed.

At around noon we were finally in Aarhus. We got separated into rooms at Cabinn, our hotel. Not quite sure if I’d call it a hotel. It was more like a hostel hotel hybrid. Their motto is “All You Need to Sleep”, so you can read the vibe of that. My roomie’s name was Cam, a business student from Beedie! What are the odds of being paired with a fellow Vancouverite half way around the world! She was super nice and we quickly became buds.  When we got to Aarhus we had the option of going to their modem art museum or going to Den Gamble (a historic Danish town). I opted for Den Gamble, as I came to learn about Denmark! Here is an informational blurb about Den Gamle:

“The ‘Den Gamle By’ (The Old Town) is a perfectly unique attraction in Aarhus … The museum is awarded the maximum three stars in the Michelin Travel Guide. Here you will meet people dressed and acting as folk at the end of the 19^th century, and also as how people lived and worked in 1927. You can also take a walk through a town district from 1970s’ Denmark, complete with streets, townhouses, shops, backyards, and workshops re-erected exactly as they stood in the past.” – source

It was really interesting, and also fun! It kind of reminded me of Barkerville back at home (near good ol’ PG), but a lot larger. They had this cute amusement park from the old town, that was all manmade games such as swings, horse shoe games and wooden pin and wooden ball bowling. Playing the games was really fun! It reminded me of not only how far we have come (I mean look at amusement parks now), but also the simplicity in fun. You don’t always need a ton of gizmos and gadgets to play a game, sometimes a swinging contest is equally exhilarating. Then, Tina (my GSCLM classmate), and I went to the bakery in the Old Town. To be frank, I am not sure what I tried. It was a Danish pastry that is super popular, and like all Danish pastries it was damn good. We then had free time until the evening plans. Cam mentioned wanting to go to a deer park, and I was fully on board. A group of around 6 of us decided to taxi up to the deer park and split fairs. When I say deer park, I literally mean, walking paths with a whole bunch of deer just roaming around. I’m not talking like 10 deer, I’m not even talking 20. Think herds and herds of cute little dears that you can feed. There were little berries on the ground they liked, and I got to feed one. The ones with antlers scared me though, I did not want to mess with those boys. That fear was rightfully placed because while talking to my friend Kelsey a deer came up to us. It was an antler, or as I called them horned, deer. Horned like a devil it was because it started to tackle Kelsey! Being the great new friend I am, I ran away. Kelsey was fine, and I may be being a bit dramatic but I am mildly traumatized by the experience.

We got back and needed dinner, so we headed to the Aarhus Street Food Centre. It was a cool and happening building, with a deck and fairy lights outside of it. Inside were stalls and stalls of street food, and I decided on some Ramen. I missed the Udon from Bento Sushi at Sauder, that udon is my greasy comfort food. The sickness I feel after ingesting all that grease is a mix of satisfaction and self-hatred. This ramen was the closest I could find to it in Aarhus. For desert I got this delicious Oreo-Chocolate popsicle. I am drooling thinking about it right now. What a satisfying meal over all.

We went to this club called Hornsleth Bar in Aarhus that night. The vibes were straight up weird when we got in. There was a serial killer themed room, it was neon with profanities written all over the walls. I was not vibing. Just as I had almost lost hope, and had finished my 1 free vodka-cran, the dance floor opened, the music was pumping, and the night started. The club ended up being wildly popular, packed and fun. They played banger after banger. The oddest moment of the night was when the DJ decided to play a Punjabi song and everyone around me expected me to know how to react. They reacted like my inner spirits should have been awakened. It was kind of amusing. I can confidently say that that will probably be the only time I hear a Punjabi song in a club in Denmark. Ever.

Saturday, September 15^th: Rise and shine suckers! This morning started nice and early at 8:00 AM for breakfast and a nice 8:30 AM load in to our bus. We were driving to Skagen, and visiting the most northern part of Denmark this day. Fun fact directed at my business friend readers, if you’ve ever heard of Skagen watches (really nice, minimalistic watched), they’re based on this city in Denmark. We got there around lunch time. My friends wanted to go to cafes for lunch, but I am a budgeted lady and cafés are not included. Let me clarify, Danish cafes are not included. Danish Cafes include $8-$10 coffee. Don’t even get me started on the food prices. I made some friends with similar mindsets and we bought lunch from Super Brugsen (a grocery store), that was really yummy! I had a mini pizza, and it was only like $4 total! Talk about a W. This group of friends was mainly from Australia, with one girl from Austria and another from Ireland. They were all super friendly people. We had free time for a couple of hours so after lunch we made our way to the beach and lounged around. It was a stunning beach; I was blown away by how white the sand was! It was least 20x nicer than Wreck Beach (sorry UBC friends).

Then, we met back up as a group and made our way to the most northern tip of Denmark. Boy was it windy, but getting there was so cool. You can see where the Baltic and North Sea meet, it’s incredibly surreal because the colours of the water are quite different and pronounced. The photos didn’t capture it quite as nicely as you could see it, but it was truly unreal.

We then drove to Aalborg where we were spending the evening. We were getting a Danish dinner experience at Heidi’s Bar. Heidi’s Bar is actually a Tyrolean joint in Germany and Denmark. I’m not one to ever complain about food. I didn’t even complain about food on the many Cuba trips I’ve taken but this food was bad. My favourite part of the meal was the potato chip bowl they had as part of the dinner buffet. That speaks for itself. We stole it and took it to our table. I’m not saying Danish food is bad, in fact I’m sure it’s excellent. The people I talked to who got Danish food from Heidi’s on the second trip to Denmark didn’t seem unimpressed. I’m thinking it was a one-time thing. There was a light at the end of the tunnel though: ice cream cake for dessert. Ice cream cake is always a W. Although, in retrospect, I’m not entirely sure how it fits into our “Traditional Danish Meal Buffet”. They then set up beer pong tables and it was a space for hanging out. We got three included drinks, but the steins were enormous and two beers in my stomach looked a solid 3 months pregnant. My hands down favourite part of the night was when they played Breaking Free from High School Musical. I don’t know why. I don’t know if that’s what they think of North Americans. Nonetheless, I was blissfully in heaven. Or should I say, there’s not a star in heaven I couldn’t reach. Our exchange coordinator then, while intoxicated, bought everyone 100 shots at a shot bar. The yellow one I tried tasted like a smoothie – that counts as being healthy right?

We tried to club, but the clubbing scene was unsuccessful. It was only about 10 of us and an old bachelor party with an inflatable doll, not exactly a bumping Saturday night.

Sunday, September 16^th: I’ve got two words for you. Lego. Land. It was Lego Land day and my inner child was THRIVING. Not only did I love Lego, but I never got to go to Lego Land as a child. This was a dream come true. To make it even better, I was in Lego Land in the country that Lego itself was founded in! What a time to be alive! We got there bright an early, and I spent the day with my new friend Cam. Our strategy was simple: walk to the back of the park and work our way forward. We started in Ninjago World where we played a lazer game. You know those spies movies, or for my millennial readers: Kim Possible episodes, where she had to get through and dodge a whole bunch of red lasers to get something. That was this game. It was a laser course and it timed you, and you only had a certain amount of “lives”. It was super fun. I was terrible at it. I heard the Danish family laugh at me while I was doing it. I lost 12 lives in 60 seconds.

We then waited an absurd amount of time for a kiddie roller coaster, which was my bad. I was way too excited for that roller coaster. After spending too long on rides, we decided to walk and explore. We explored the Wild Wild West Segment, Pirate Segment, and the Arctic Segment. We then explored the “Arctic Section” of the park. The Polar Ride was super fun, especially one part where you literally get dropped down in a roller coaster cart. It really caught me off guard! Another notable section was the Egyptian section, which had one of those games where you shoot targets for points. Cam absolutely destroyed me. The worst part? I thought I was winning the whoel time. After lunch we decided to see a 4D movie, which happened to be Ninjago themed. It was super cute. Although, since one of the Ninja’s elements was “water” the real only fourth dimensional feature was getting plowed with water repeatedly. Would recommend a rain coat and maybe some goggles? There was also a whole section that was simply Denmark and other large monuments remade in Lego. In fact, they had fully functioning airports, and a complete replica of Nyhavn in Copenhagen! Everything was exactly as it is in the actual city, including moving Canal tours, and real life shop names! That is the oldest part of Lego Land, and it was really interesting to see. Can you imagine having “Professional Lego Builder” as your actual job? What a dream.

With that we ended the tour of Denmark and headed on the long bus home. Over all, it was a great weekend. While most of my cohort was attending the second Denmark Trip (which happened two weeks after), it was a good way to get me out of my comfort zone and making different exchange friends.