On Friday night, I decided to see what the synagogue in Copenhagen was like. It's actually really close to where the DIS main buildings are, it's situated between two churches and very close to St. Peter's Bakery, which is one of the oldest in the city.
Anyway, the synagogue had a sign saying it didn't allow big bags or electronics in during services, so I left all of my things in a locker at DIS. The lockers are not actually in the building, you have to swipe to get in, but you go through a door in the courtyard. I wasn't sure when it closed, but I thought it was pretty late, so I left everything there. Including my transportation pass because I didn't want to lose it since the pockets on my coat are falling off.
Ilana and I went to services and then to the Chabad rabbi's house for dinner. It was really nice to have a home cooked meal. I love eating here at the højskole, but I really enjoyed having a shabbat dinner. Another student from DIS, who is actually in one of my classes, also showed up. The Loewenthals were really great and the rabbi also told us that a lot of DIS students had already contacted them about Passover, so those will be fun seders. All the Chabad families I've come in contact with have been, but I thought it was cool that he made sure we knew how to get back to the train station so I could get home. I didn't feel judged for taking the train and bus on Shabbat.
At any rate, Ilana and I arrive at Vestergade 7 and realize we're locked out of the courtyard. We go back to her apartment, which is conveniently only a few blocks away from DIS. Her roommate is in the Architecture and Design program. Since they work them like crazy, they have 24-hour access to some of the DIS buildings, so we got her password and took her ID. However, the architecture studio is in Vestergade 5, not 7, so we called one of her roommates to get the DIS emergency number. We called it and I felt bad because the staff person was clearly at a bar or club when she picked up. She said she'd be there in 20 minutes. We started walking back to Ilana's place and then she called back to say it'd be five minutes.
She got there, let me in and said she wasn't sure when the gates closed for the night but that all students have 24-hour accesses to Vestergade 10. So from now on, that's where my stuff will be. Then she gave me a ride to Nørreport Station where I caught the train to Hillerød 10 minutes later. By this time, it was around 23:00 and it's about an hour commute between the train and the bus from the Hillerøod station to the højskole. I didn't have the bus schedule, but I was pretty sure there was one leaving around midnight. When it gets to be that late, they only come once every hour and they stop fairly early on. It's about a 45 minute walk back from the station, but it probably would've been longer because it was cold out, I had stuff to carry and I'm a slow walker anyway. I got there in time for the 0:15 bus, which didn't come until 0:30. But, after spending 45 minutes in the cold, I was just glad it came at all because I didn't think I was getting home that night. I got to bed around 1:00, after telling my story to my friends, who were hanging out in the lobby.
On Saturday, we went to the beach in Hellerup, which is a few stops down the E line of the train. It's pretty cool to look in the distance and see Sweden. I may not make it to France or Spain this semester, but I'm definitely going to Norway and Sweden. I'm so sad because one of the Norwegian girls living here told me that every year in Norway, they put on a play of Kristin Lavransdatter. It's a trilogy that I've become a little obsessed with ever since we read the first one in my viking women class last spring. Sigrid Undset is a really famous Norwegian writer. She actually had to come to America for a few years to escape Hitler.
Last night we had a techno party. It was an off-weekend for the students, so many of them went home but there were a lot who stayed. I really love being here for the weekends. I love being able to eat brunch and dinner with everyone. It's great not to spend money all the time or have to cook. Because I would probably starve if I had to cook all the time, haha. I cook at school and it's fine, but there's so much more to do here that I don't want to stay in here and cook. Everything's also really expensive here, whether you're buying food from the grocery store or in a restaurant.
Today, I did homework. I want to watch the superbowl, but I can't stay up until four when I have a 10:05 class tomorrow after an hour commute. If I feel really daring, I might take the train into Copenhagen, watch it at a pub and then sleep in the DIS building or on Ilana's floor if I end up calling her and it's OK. But I'll probably just hang out here and find some Danes to help me with my Danish homework and hope they don't laugh too much.
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