Foooooood...

"Sacred cows make the best hamburgers."

- Mark Twain

As I am sure you are all aware I have had issues with food since getting here, and after my mom had to tell me very seriously that my diet of mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs was not healthy, I decided to be brave and try to cook.  So yesterday I put on my big girl pants and went to the grocery store.  Not only did I buy meat I also had to ask the people in the grocery store questions.  For those of you who don't think this is a big deal, think again because truthfully I am terrified of talking to strangers.  Anyways I decided my first real cooking experience in Copenhagen should be the most obvious choice of anyone deciding to cook in a foreign country.  I decided to make cheesecake, yup cheesecake.  Let me tell you it was the best cheesecake I have ever tasted, because I had to put more effort into making this cheesecake than I have ever put into making anything.  Not only did I need to translate all of the ingredients into Danish to find them in the grocery store, I also had to change all the measurements into metric and temperatures to Celsius.  In the end though it was so worth it.       

And my roommate Daniel and his girlfriend Laura were nice enough to model the half-eaten cheesecake.  Laura is currently staying at our apartment until she finds one for herself and I would like her to stay forever for completely selfish reasons.  First she mopped our floors and did the dishes and then tonight Daniel and her cooked us a dinner of lasagna and apple pie.  It was amazing.

Even though they don't look like it was amazing they actually thought it was(they said I took too long to take the photo so they couldn't smile anymore, boys!)

Also this past weekend we finally got good weather!  So on Saturday we hit the beach.  

 

This is Marcos, Seonaid, Krys, and Niklaus.

I did not go all the way in but Niklaus and Krys had a lot of fun in the water.

At the beach they were selling these peas which are huge! I could not believe that they were normal peas, unfortunately at this size you don't eat the shell only the actual pea.

Then on Sunday we walked into town to see what was going on, and there just happened to be an Ironman triathlon.  We were at the finish line when the first guy crossed the finish line.     

 After swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles this guy was still nice enough to walk around the crowd and thank his fans.  

 After that we bought some pastries and went to sit by the water at Nyhavn, which is the place with all the pretty colored houses that you see in all the pictures of Copenhagen.

After Nyhavn we decided to go and explore Christiania, unfortunately we ran into issues when it came to getting around the triathlon.  We ran into issues because the city is made up of lots of canals which requires the crossing of bridges.  Well the bridge we wanted to cross had the triathlon crossing it so we didn't really know where to go.  I again put on my big girl pants and asked one of the security people if he could give us an alternate route to get around.  He didn't give us an alternate route he just moved the barricades and had us walk alongside the runners inside the barricades!   

So after watching incredibly fit and dedicated people we decided to go in the complete opposite direction and go to the free town of Christiania.  This is a walled town within the city of Copenhagen where buying marijuana is legal.  I mean like people having stands set up in the street with marijuana on display.  There are no photos allowed within Christiania but here is a photo of the entrance gate.

And finally today I met my mentors! The four lovely ladies are Danish students who have volunteered to help international students find their way in Denmark.  So first we went to a cafe where I was able to get a hamburger(with bacon :)  and then we went and got ice cream.  It was a really good day.

If you couldn't tell this last week had a lot to do with food, which is probably why I am in a much better mood than my last post.  Not only did I get to eat meat, but I also got over my fear of going to the grocery store.  So from now on no more mashed potatoes for 3 meals a day 7 days a week.  

Random Danish Facts:

There is a holiday in Denmark called Fastelavn.  When this holiday was started the people used to put a black cat in a barrel and then hang the barrel from a tree.  Then children would hit the barrel with a bat until they broke the barrel and the cat was dead.  Then that child would get a crown.  Horrible, right?  Today it is less horrible because they only put a picture of a cat on the barrel and then fill the barrel with candy.