I’m going to miss this place

Two things happened today that made me pause and think of what a unique place I’m in.

The first is that this afternoon, I sat down at the fountain on Gammel Torv (a very beautiful fountain at that) to eat a slice of pizza (potato and rosemary pizza at that!). The person sitting next to me looked over at me and said “Velbekomme”, which translates to “you’re welcome” but is usually used in reference to someone who is about to eat or has recently eaten, and in such a context it essentially means “enjoy your meal.” So this stranger was wishing well upon me, the stranger who sat down to share his spot on the steps of the fountain. I said “tak” (“thank you”) and enjoyed my pizza a little bit more because of it.

The second is that, sitting in a bar called “Eiffel Bar” this evening (it’s a bar decorated with Parisian motifs, which adds greater validity to my observation that all of Europe is in love with France and Paris in particular) with my friends Rich and Eric, we hear “Gangster’s Paradise” playing, which is about as noncongruous as it gets. Eric asked, with appropriate incredulousness, “Is it 1996 again?” Despite this oddity, we all agreed that Copenhagen was probably the best place for us to study abroad–the city is accessible and its people make us feel comfortable. Eric and I are already figuring out “an excuse” to come back. I just hope that when I do, my host family will still have the spare room for me. I don’t know what I’d do without their cooking and snarky comments.

I’m going to miss this place.