I Can't Think of a Better Title than 'Denmark':

It is hard to believe that the two weeks I spent in Denmark have been and gone. In fact, as I type this post my stay in Stockholm is also over; I am typing from Arlanda Airport, en route to Tallinn, Estonia. The past few weeks have been extremely busy for me - in a few hours I will have been in three different countries in four days (four if you count my current layover)! Nevertheless, Denmark was a spectacular experience and henceforth is well-deserving of a blog post filled with accolades.

Lucy, Taylah and myself. The girls also were in Denmark, though both left before me. 

Taylah's birthday cake, kindly cooked by Mie's mother.

 From what I can gather, most Australian people (or at least my peers) do not know a great deal about the Scandinavian country, apart from the fact that good old Princess Mary shacked up with a hot Danish prince and now lives there. Admittedly I actually think that is a bloody awesome story and am really proud as an Aussie of Mary Donaldson from Tassie, a stunning and graceful representation of all women from Down Under (there was absolutely no underlying sarcasm in that statement...).

Anyway, a slight rundown on the country seems appropriate here, so: Denmark is located south of Sweden and Norway and is actually composed of many different islands, though Zealand, Jutland and Funen are said to be the main three. Copenhagen, the nation's capital, is located on Zealand. The people speak Danish (duh) and the main currency is the Danish Kroner, not the Euro. Denmark is also actually famous for many things aside from making an Aussie royalty including Hans Christian Anderson, Lego, Royal Copenhagen and  Pandora.

I am fortunate enough to have a close friend, Mie, who lives in Denmark, just a 25 minute drive outside of Copenhagen. Her family were beyond hospitable, hosting me for two whole weeks. They fed me for the duration of my stay, going to the effort of introducing me to some traditional Danish foods such as: Koldskål, Frikadeller, Islakage and Sild. Spending an extended amount of time living with a local family was an invaluable experience. The family put out breakfast almost daily and thus I was in a state of total euphoria; Brie cheese, jam, rye bread, soft-boiled eggs and muesli are standard to the Danish, but a total treat to me. Almost as good as my weetbix and banana or vegemite on toast... Almost (I'm currently suffering from pretty major vegemite withdrawals and unfortunately I highly doubt Estonia, Latvia or any other of my upcoming European destinations will be able to alleviate this for me. They also patiently attempted to teach me, an ignorant speaker of just English, some basic Danish phrases and showed me a large part of Denmark, most of which I never would have seen otherwise.

All four of us the night before Taylah's 19th birthday, which we celebrated by having a breakfast buffet. 

The first night I spent in the city Mie took me out to experience some Copenhagen nightlife and we ended up in a club, Hornsleth (which was actually for over 23s) and to me embodied the European underground punk/modern rock scene; with some pretty questionable artwork - such as giant phalluses- adorning the walls. It is always fascinating to experience another city after dark, and Copenhagen certainly did not disappoint. The Danes LOVE to drink and they LOVE to party. Somebody actually said to me that the Danish are the (much classier) Australians of Scandinavia, and this observation seems fitting. 

Before that though, Mie took me around her area to a few of her close friend's houses. Danish high school students were graduating the week that I arrived, meaning that they were ready to party, and I really mean party. It is a Danish tradition that all graduates wear sailor's caps, which they mark in different ways over the course of the week to symbolise various achievements; skinny-dipping, partying until dawn, and kissing somebody of the same gender, all amongst other 'accomplishments' if you know what I am getting at... The students hire out trucks in their graduating classes and drive from home to home, drinking alcohol and eating delicious food all provided by their proud and adoring parents. The whole thing was just bloody awesome, and I personally vote that Australia adopts the same tradition and that I get to graduate again in order to pioneer the whole thing. 

An example of a graduate truck.

I spent the some of my stay exploring Copenhagen; one of my favourite parts being Christiania, an autonomous Danish commune full of independence, love, sharing, happiness and lots and lots of dope. Think the movie 'Wanderlust' starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd, only on a much larger scale. The commune is separate from the EU (this is denoted by a 'you are now entering the EU' sign at the exit gate), meaning that they are exempt from paying taxes; therefore their existence is controversial. Regardless, Christiania is a part of modern Danish culture, and according to Mie and many other locals they will not be going anywhere for a very long time. I also sailed Copenhagen's picturesque Nyhavn Canals, climbed the spiral 'Church of our Saviour' for a terrifying view of the city, explored Stroget, the World's longest pedestrian shopping strip, sampled expensive but divine Danish coffee and visited Mary at the royal residence, though I don't think she was home. 

'You are now entering the EU.'

Artwork from the entrance to Chritiania.

Totally irrelevant but the cute French Bulldog I found deserves to be featured.

Nyhavn.

Me bravely climbing the 'Church of our Saviour'.

 The rest of the time I was shown the rest of Denmark, travelling to Roskilde where a world famous festival is held annually. The Rolling Stones played this year, and I am gutted that I missed out. I also visited Mie's Grandmother's quaint summerhouse in Gilleleje, and spent some time in Slettestrand (on Jutland) with the family for a part of her parent's holiday as a present to her brother. At Slettestrand I went mountain biking for the first time, accompanied by Sporty Spice Mie and her father, both of whom had a significant amount of mountain biking experience in comparison to me. The track they took me on was 22km long, and I think it took me about 21km to actually get the hang of the whole thing; this may be due to the fact that I walked a great deal of the track. Whilst I am not a quitter I am also not a mountain biker. I was in indescribable pain. The bike seat felt like it was so far up my ass that we probably will not see it until next Tuesday. My nose was running, my shorts were getting caught and I was getting harassed by flies. I fell off of the bike numerous times, at one point forgetting to break as I flew into the rugged shrubbery, eventually coming to a crashing holt when my bike hit a root or a badger or the body of another mountain biking rookie. Inevitably, the experience was rather unpleasant for me though I am very glad to now be able to say that I have mountain biked through Northern Denmark. 

Part of my Jutland trip that I did actually thoroughly enjoy was the trip to Skagen, Denmark's northern most point and where the North and Baltic Seas meet. The foodie/coffee lover in me also would like to mention CaféVelo, where I treated myself not once, but twice in the space of an hour, to a choco-mint latte and a tuna sandwich for lunch. I feel like 'tuna sand which' is a giant unjust description of this sandwich,  but do not stress; the Instagrammar in me saw the photogenic potential of the meal and snapped a picture so that it could be remembered by both myself and my legion of
loyal readers (the book 'The Secret' says that if you talk about something in a positive regard even if it is untrue then the universe will act to ensure that it does come true. Or something along those lines.).

The beach at Mie's grandmother's summer house.

Mie's darling mother (photo cred to Mie here).

Choco-mint latte. Delicious.

The tuna sandwich.

Overall, Denmark was a remarkable experience. I felt so welcomed in the country and I sincerely hope that I can return one day, hopefully to go out for a rosé or twelve with Mary. Oh! I actually forgot to mention that a guy who sold me a slushie had met Mary; his daughter is in the same class at school as her daughter. Hopefully he let's Mary know that he ran into two Aussie girls (my friend Taylah was with me at the time) who were extremely excited to be just one degree of separation from our crown princess. Anyway, back to Denmark. Though the prices in places are insane (that's $candinavia for you) and the summer seemingly just three days long it is a completely wonderful, charming and incredibly joyful country - Denmark is said to be the happiest nation in the world - that I would glowingly recommend to anybody heading to Northern Europe. 

A Copenhagen street.

Domed cathedral just behind the royal residence. 

Me picking some wild strawberries just near Mie's home.

The Elephant House.

One of the reasons that I am so dearly in love with the city of Edinburgh is that the inspiring, incomparable and extraordinary JK Rowling - one of my two greatest heroines (the other being the wonderful Tina Fey) - calls the historic city home. In fact, my uncle just today told me about how one of his clients is landscaping her enormous property, just minutes from the city. The reminder of her current proximity to me both excited and pained me; I keep secretly hoping that I will spot her strolling through Edinburgh's famed streets, grabbing a coffee from one of the many charming and inviting shops overlooking the Castle or Princes Street Gardens, sights which likely inspired some of her literary genius. One coffee shop in particular is globally renowned as being the place where Jo penned a great deal of 'Harry and Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', when she was a single mother living in a dinghy flat, surviving on benefits and suffering from the plaguing fog of depression that haunted her for many years (and is said to be the inspiration behind Dementors). That is one of the things so admirable and impressive about Jo, she has an uncanny knack to turn any aspect of life into a fantastical aspect of a world figmented completely in her mind. Khahil Gibran stated that "the most massive characters are seared with scars"; and this certainly rings true for Harry and no doubt his creator herself. However, what made Harry and Jo so iconic, so exemplary, was their ability to overcome such demons and literally change their respective worlds in ways wholly unprecedented. 

Jo is the quintessence (feeling very Walter Mitty using that word) of who I would like to become. She used her passion and raw talent for creative writing to change her life, and subsequently the world. She singlehandedly took herself from benefits to billions. She has won numerous awards globally for her services to literature, has had the honor of giving the Harvard Commencement Address (http://youtu.be/wHGqp8lz36c), has been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, and had a massive impact, I daresay even changed, my life and the lives of countless others. When I am at home, I watch a Harry Potter film at least every two weeks (I can't even count the amount of times I have read the books). I am even known to joke that every time it rains that it is "Harry Potter and pumpkin soup weather", because the films and books bring such an instant sense of comfort, warmth and content (whether the rain is figurative or literal). She gave hope to the world, both through her storytelling and through the magical story of her own life; and all the while she has remained extremely humble and gratious regarding her tremendous success. It should also be mentioned that she gives millions to charity (usually without naming the figure) not for the publicity but because she has a genuine heart of gold and feels that she is in a position where her wealth should be used to benefit not just herself. 

Needless to say, when I walked into The Elephant House on Monday I felt completely overwhelmed in knowing that part of Jo's journey began within the humble little coffee shop when she was a nobody - a recently divorced single mother surviving from government handouts. It sounds ridiculous, but there really is a magical ambience to the place. Not just magical in terms of how it's surrounds inevitably inspired everybody's favourite tale of make believe, but magical in terms of how some real life magic started there for Jo. Hundreds, if not thousands of fans have scrawled Harry Potter quotes and messages to Jo on the walls of the toilets, representing just a cluster of 'Dumbledore's Army' who have made it to The Elephant House, all of whom have had their hearts and souls touched by her imagination. Thus, as I sat drinking my mocha (all the while trying not to burst into tears and embarrass myself), my determination to make something glorious of my life only continued to flourish. I want to find a way to change the world for the better, to go down in history in a way nobody before me ever has. To be revered by writers, readers, children, parents, teachers film aficionados, feminists and incomprehensible amounts of groups the world over. To redefine the ideas and trends of a generation; to be referenced daily as a part of pop culture. I know that it is laughable of me to share such thoughts; the chances of me even achieving a smidgen of Jo's bravado are more or less nil, but hey - if she taught me anything then that is to dream. To believe in the impossible - because sometimes magic finds its way into real life.

My message to Jo (corny but I don't care). 

:')