Oh, I Wanna Dance With Somebody

Post 2 of the night: Copenhagen nightlife. You'd think that snow storms and 10 degree weather would deter people from going out, but I have found that that's not the case. The hardest part is feeling motivated and brave enough to leave my warm house, but once I'm actually out, it's worth it. Danes don't start their evenings til around midnight, which means they end even later. Walking to the train station at 3:30 last night, there were people everywhere! And you don't have to worry about what time you're getting home because public transportation runs all night on weekends. It's like even the city is encouraging you to go out and drink.

Friday night, we met up at my friend's apartment to hang before going out. She lives in a neighborhood called Norrebro and we have to walk from her apartment to a main street to catch a bus that takes us closer to the city. We're swearing under our breath the whole time because we feel like our feet are going to freeze and fall off. This particular night, we just missed the bus and ended up having to wait for what seemed like FOREVER for another one. Meanwhile, a guy who was also waiting noticed us speaking English and asked if we were from the States. So our new best friend Robin, who just got back from touring with his band in Brazil and looks a little bit like Heath Ledger, tells us he's going to Bar 7 (mental note to go to Bar 7 if first bar doesn't work out) and gives us great directions to the bar we were trying to find after we get off the bus. Our destination was a bar called Barcelona. It was so much fun and had great music, lots of young people, and no short supply of very attractive guys. Unfortunately, the drinks were really expensive, so my friend Viv and I ordered the cheapest thing we could find: 5 shots for 100 kroner (about 20 bucks). The shots tasted like pure Robitussen, yummm. We left Barcelona for the next best thing: really cheap beer at 7-11. There are 7-11's everywhere here, and it's a frequent stop for beer and liquor at a price you won't find at any bar. With our Tubourgs (a type of beer) in tow, we ventured to Bar 7 in an attempt to find our new friend Heath Ledger. We found him, plus a bathroom, and didn't stay long. We walked down the street to a place called Viking where I couldn't breathe because there was so much smoke, but we stayed because I Wanna Dance With Somebody came on and we, well, wanted to dance (preferably with somebody, but it was just with each other). At this point, the night was pretty much over for us, but on the way to the trains, we stopped at McDonald's, where there are always a ton of people getting late-night munchies. Then we went our separate ways to go home.

Last night we decided we DID NOT want to do the whole wandering from bar to bar in the snow thing, so made up our minds from the beginning to go to The Happy Pig and that's it. After stopping at 7-11 to buy a donut and a Kinder Egg (those awesome chocolate eggs with toys inside), we got there around midnight. Oh, and on the way there, we passed another club that was playing I Wanna Dance With Somebody which we all got very excited about and started dancing on the sidewalk. We had to stand in line for a bit at Happy Pig, which was only slightly miserable and definitely worth it once we got inside, though that was a little hard too. Viv's REAL Oregon ID is peeling because it's so old, so the bouncers initially weren't going to let her in because they said it looked fake. I, obviously, have the exact same ID (and mine is not peeling), so we had to use mine to convince them that hers was real and that we definitely were not trying to lie that we were 20 (which is how old you have to be to get in). We laughed and were slightly annoyed that the first time Viv used her real ID in Copenhagen, they thought it was fake (not to mention the fact that the bouncers legitimately thought we would even have fake IDs to show we're 20). Anyways, we got in, and it was a blast. There was great music and all young people. We met a really nice girl in the bathroom who is from Pennsylvania and has a Danish boyfriend so she's living here now and getting her masters. Highlight of the night was definitely when I requested, and the DJ played, Party in the USA. Before we knew it, it was 3 a.m. I got home around 4 and it had started to hardcore snow, so I ran from the train station to my house.

Next weekend, I'll be out of town on a study tour to Ebeltoft and Kolding in Western Denmark, so I'll post about my adventures and nights out there when I get back!