The Weekend!

Well, Friday and Saturday were both pretty exciting and active days, so I'm happy that today we're traveling and not having to walk a crazy amount. On Friday, we took a long trek out to Lavuk, which is a school and after-school club for students with disabilities, ranging from ages 12-25. It was really interesting to hear about their philosophy in helping these students and their culture revolving around education. Jimmy, Paige, and I talked to a pedagog, Pia, for a long time about their school and educational system. Basically, they really value recreational skills and building these students' self-confidence rather than focusing completely on educational content. The kids did seem to really enjoy themselves at the club and relaxing with one another. However, we also had to consider the fact that they are completely segregated from their same-aged peers. A very interesting paradox.

We hung out at Lavuk nearly all day and got to chill with the students as they did scooter races and arts and crafts. The group also walked to their harbor where they have sailing and ate lunch there. We headed back into Copenhagen and Melissa, Jimmy, Cam, and I got some AWESOME pizza (spinach, onion, and feta) and hot dogs, which we downed super fast. As we were still hungry, we ate dinner at the hostel with our group and chatted about our trip that day. Then, we went back out to Lavuk for their dance that they have every Friday. I didn't dance all that much, but I did get to play Uno with some awesome and super friendly kids. After the dance, we went to Tivoli Gardens to hear a free concert that was PACKED (about 5,000 people) and ride the swings, which was so cool, especially at night. They're 260 feet up in the air and one of the tallest swing rides in the world, which gave us an amazing view at night with all the lights. A bunch of us chilled there, nearly until the place closed, and then we wandered the streets until we found a nice place to hang out. The Mermaid Bar was our location of choice, and we finally saw some loud Danish people! There's a first time for everything!

We had our first full free day on Saturday, which was really incredible, even though it was exhausting! Cam, Melissa, Jimmy, and I started off the day searching for a place to have brunch. We found a wonderful place that had eggs and bacon and ORANGE JUICE. For those of you who know me well, I value orange juice more than any other beverage in the world, and I have not had it in a week. I was ecstatic, to say the least, and it was delicious. After that, we walked for what felt like forever trying to find this flea market people had talked about. Honestly, the walking was kinda of awful, but we found the market, and it was huge. It was kind of like a gigantic garage sale, but I found a cool dress there, and it was just an interesting experience. From there, we got a bit lost with the buses and had to reroute to get by Our Saviour's Church, which has a HUGE spiral tower at the top. Jimmy, Cam, Melissa, and I walked up a ton of stairs and got to see the amazing view from the top. It was really cool and refreshing up there. I really liked it. We headed into Christiania to explore a bit more after that, and we got to relax and actually see the residential area of the place, which was nice. From there, we headed to Nyhavn, which is the famous place with all the colorful buildings on the water. It was insanely packed, cause the weather was nice, but definitely good to see. Next (super busy day), we walked to the mermaid statue. This was also quite an insane walk, as people kept telling us, "It's not that far." Actually, yes, it was very far away. However, we made it and took lots of pictures there. We took a train back and got McDonald's here, cause we were super hungry. Then, we relaxed at the hostel and went to bed early to pack and rest our super tired feet. 

This morning (Sunday), we ate breakfast, packed up, and checked out in order to start our day of travel to Aarhus, which is the second largest city in Copenhagen and it has a university. We're excited to go somewhere new and have some more experiences. Miss you all, and hope you're doing well!