October's almost over?

  I have been unfortunately lax in my blog updating recently, but I think it's excusable- after my incredible study tour my parents were able to visit for a few days, followed immediately by my roommate Carroll! But because I can't handle too much blogging in one day, I'm going to start with my parents visit and get back to Carroll a little later (after the tests this week that have so rudely snuck up on me...)
  My time with Mom and Dad began with a Friday afternoon trip to Vesterbro for a project I had for my Copenhagen class. The city of Copenhagen is divided into the main city center, with five "fingers" or outskirt neighborhoods spreading out from there- Christianshavn to the east, Vesterbro to the West, Frederiskberg to the northwest, Nørrebro to the north, and østerport to the northeast. Vesterbro and Nørrebro are working class neighborhoods, while the other three are a little more upscale. Our task was to travel around Vesterbro, identifying certain buildings and answering questions. It was actually pretty fun!
  That night was Kultur Natten (Culture Night) in Copenhagen, a huge annual event where museums, official buildings, and various sights are open to the public until midnight or later, and are free with a culture night pass. We got to see the Danish Parliament, the ruins of Copenhagen's first fortress (from around 1157) at night, the Royal Stables, Ice Sculptures outside, and the Medical Museum. And, despite the hour wait, we were able to go into the never-open-to-the-public Børsen, one of my favorite buildings in Copenhagen- built by Christian IV around 1621 to provide a trading facility for the city's wealthy merchants, its fantastically gorgeous and now the home of the Stock Exchange. 

The Chamber of the Danish Parliament

Model of Medieval Copenhagen, in front of Copenhagen City Museum

Main hall of Borsen!

Borsen at Culture Night

  The next day we took the 45 minute train ride across the øresund Sound into Sweden (allowing my dad to say that he's been to Sweden!). We spent the day wandering around the city of Malmö and following a suggested route from my Copenhagen professor. It's a beautiful city and lots of fun to wander around, although we were more focused on having tea than appreciating the gables...

Park in Malmo

Malmohus, the oldest Renaissance Castle in Scandinavia

Sunset over the Oresund Sound

  On Sunday the three of us went to Ny Carlsberg Glypotek, an amazing museum of art and sculptures collected and donated by the founder of Carlsberg beer- a pretty cool guy! Some of the paintings were amazing, and there was a huge collection of Rodin sculptures that I loved looking at. When I finally pried my mother away from the museum, we went to TIVOLI, arguably my favorite place in Copenhagen. Tivoli is Europe's oldest amusement park, and feels to me like something between a fair and Disney World. Even though it's only open for 9 days in October, they went all out with decorating it for Halloween- pumpkins everywhere! We didn't try the rides that day, but really enjoyed wandering around and appreciating the decorations and atmosphere (not to mention food!).

Entrance to Halloween Tivoli

Pumpkin'd path

Lake in Tivoli!

  The next day was a historic (and very hyggelit) event- my host family had my parents over for dinner! I cooked macaroni and cheese, my parents brought meatloaf, and the host fam prepared about 10 different salads, not to mention an amazing cake for dessert. My two host sisters Maja and Stine were there and it was so much fun (even with both sets of 'parents' ganging up on me a little bit!). This may be a good time to attempt to describe the idea of 'hygge' or 'hyggelit' since I keep forgetting to do so. Hygge is, for lack of a better way to define it, cozy or comfortable. It is an entirely unique Danish concept of something being fun and comforting at the same time. It's normally based around friends, family, and the home, but not exclusively. Hygge is a very personal thing, so what is 'hyggelit' to one person may not be to somebody else. I'm bringing it back to the states for sure! All in all, the dinner was a great success and very hyggelit. 
  My last day with the parents consisted of an afternoon touring around Rosenborg Castle, located in a beautiful park (Kongens Have, or King's Garden) in the middle of the city! It was built by Christian IV (my favorite) as a sort of nearby retreat. It also has the Crown Jewels now, so it was quite fun. The day ended with finding me a pair of rain boots, apparently a requirement for my upcoming trip to Russia the second week of November with DIS (I should be memorizing the Cyrillic alphabet now, actually...), followed by a delicious dinner at an adorable restaurant in the city center, Det Lille Apotek (The Little Apothecary). All in all it was a great visit! Now about that alphabet...

Mom and Dad!