Shortly after Core Course week, I had one of my good ol friends from back home visit me: Marla! She visited from February 11, 2022 to February 15, 2022
She’s currently studying in Nantes, France and had a little break, so she took some time to visit Lily and me. At this point, it was almost a month into being at Copenhagen (even though it felt way longer), and so seeing another familiar face was definitely comforting (:
She came into København Airport on February 11 at 11:30 PM, so I went to the airport to pick her up. Another one of the things I love about Copenhagen is the public transportation and as you can see, it’s super easy for me to go to and from the airport on the Metro! The fact that I can go as a woman of color late at night at 11 PM to pick up Marla on the Metro is a testament to how safe living in Copenhagen is.
She settled in and the next day, we decided to go to Malmö, Sweden! During her stay here, I wanted to show her around the city, but I figured that she might as well cross off another country on her list by visiting Sweden, which is a 30 minute train ride by the city center (isn’t that crazy?!) You can read more about our visit in an upcoming blog post.
The next day, I figured that we should go visit one of the tourist attractions in Copenhagen: seeing a castle! So, we chose to go to Christansborg Slot. It was about a 20$ ticket with the student discount, but so worth it since we got the combo ticket and visited different parts of the palace. It was also one of the most beautiful castles Marla had seen in her life! :0
After we finished perusing, we walked around Strøget, one of the longest shopping streets in the world. Along the way, we stopped by a few vendors and got fresh roasted chestnuts, caramelized almonds, and ofc a Copenhagen hotdog!
I wanted to get Marla some Danish pastries (bc what else do you in Denmark) and so we stopped by Emmerys. During the month of February, the Danes celebrate something called Fastelavn. It’s usually one day, but over the years, theyve made the pastries (fastelavnsboller) available throughout the month of February since they’re so popular. Fastelavn is a Northern European holiday where people dress up in costumes. A lot of people describe it as their version of Halloween.
Afterwards we visited the Torvehallerne (Glass Market) since it’s another popular tourist attraction that everyone loves going to. It’s basically an indoor, fancy market that sells fresh products, desserts, and meals as well. The walls surrounding the market are made of glass, hence why it is called the Glass Market.
For dinner, we decided to cook a meal and we made salmon with bell peppers and burnt brussels sprouts. Very yum. Had to show Marla my cooking skills I’ve acquired from my time here 😛
To end our night, we went around Copenhagen to explore the Festival of Lights. They had it around for the month of February and they’re placed in little spots around Copenhagen!
The next day was Valentine’s Day – I’m also going to make a separate post for this since we participated in Dining Week and it’s interesting to write about!
For Marla’s last day, we visited the Glyptoteket. After we finished, she went on her way to the airport. It’s definitely a perk to have other friends who are studying abroad in different places at the same time as you. Because then you can visit them or they can visit you, or there’s even a possibility of traveling together! It’s comforting to have a familiar face, but it’s also been really cool to meet new people and to engage in new experiences (:
