Copenhagen… A home away from home.

This month we visited my family friends, the Bridge family, in Copenhagen for the weekend.  First we had to go through an intensive petition to convince John and Peter that there was value in our visit to Copenhagen, but after our letter of sorts it was final.  It was so nice to stay in an actual home and be with a family.  It was much colder than London had been, but I still got my classic ice cream cone.  We wore winter clothes, bought homemade jam in the countryside, drove to Sweden, snuggled up in bed to watch Forrest Gump, saw the Carl Bloch exhibit, visited Hamlet's castle and Karen Blixen's house, went to church, bought plenty of chocolate, marched beside the Queen's guards, and we all found a liking for Danish boys.  Karen also taught me the three phrases necessary for survival in Denmark and the only Danish I know… 1. Tak=thanks  2. Jeg Elsker Dem=I love you and 3. Kan du huske mig=Do you remember me?.. We covered all the basics while there.  It has been my favorite trip yet.    

THE GROUP = Al Smil, LaLa, Me, Laurel, and Magaroon

Karen and I outside Church of our Lady.

I became a mermaid….

Bear stole my heart.

Luckily the Iraq embassy was directly across their house… 

The ice cream was impeccable.   

Our favorite London-based band was in Copenhagen - the Ryan O'Reilly Band.

Suzannah was a sweetheart.  

The mandatory BYU meal card for all freshmen living on campus is bad.

Mostly because…..

ONE: It’s incredibly expensive.

TWO: It gave me no proper perception of the value of the dollar. In my mind I had an endless supply of money, and in a way I did… I struggled to use all the money left over on my card and no longer viewed it as money, but like a point system. I was always around 80-100 “points”.

THREE: The card, in fact, became my credit card. It was instinctive to pull out my student ID card when at the Movie Theater, mall or any other place. If they didn’t take dining plus, they didn’t get my service.

FOUR: I discovered how to use a vending machine=very dangerous.

FIVE: It has made for addictive habits. Upon arriving at BYU I was overwhelmed by the food selection. As I slowly discovered the new world of food on campus, my diet changed, in an I-need-my-daily-Twix-bar-before-noon-kind-of-way. I loved Twix bars. One time Stover Hall was all out of Twix bars, as was Taylor Hall, I finally found my candy of choice at David John. Later, Kelsie bought me an endless supply of Twix bars; she must have felt bad for my pathetic addiction... she’s so nice. Unfortunately, Twix bars weren’t the only things I came to love. The Skyroom was frequented by me/Andrew/Clayton. And the boy at the creamery ran out of things to say to me as I waited for numerous hard-shakes. Subways lines didn’t seem to bug me as long as I could get a six-inch turkey on wheat bread. And Smart Waters were scattered all over my room (Can I even claim being addicted to water? Maybe just consuming the bottles?)

SIX: Freshmen fifteen… or twenty… or twenty five……… ??? I understand. The meal cards made it all too easy; I don't know how it didn't happen.

SEVEN: It served as another excuse to not do my homework. When I wanted a break from homework Kelsie and I visited the creamery for a raspberry chocolate shake.

***The meal card became a crutch for me to depend. And now I’m in summer semester, and I’m missing this crutch in my life and am living a slightly less fattening life. Except for yesterday, when I needed a hard-shake.