Siberian winds, brr.

You're saving me, little guy..

Today as I was taking a nice afternoon nap, I was awoken by my frozen housemates Rita and Molly jumping into my bed after they had just taken a long, cold bike ride.  The cold is nothing new to us hearty Copenhagians, but these past few weeks have been a little ridiculous.  As you might know, most of Europe is being hit by bone-chilling Siberian winds that are causing quite a few problems in Eastern Europe especially and even for St. Kannikestraede.  In addition, our poor little apartment is also struggling with hot water as well as heat.  As we speak, I'm sitting in front of our brand new space heater in the dining room.  Apparently, this whole area of the city is without heat, so I'm hoping that resolves itself soon.

Despite the cold, there was still much to do this past weekend, as my friend Mike (Hersh) was flying in from London to visit for the weekend!  Saturday morning started off bright and early with a visit to St. Peter's bakery for some delicious, authentic Danish pastry.  Before we left, Rita picked up a baguette on impulse and from there, it was off to Nyhavn to see the beautiful harbor and nom on our baguette.  Nyhavn is one of my favorite places in the city, but it was a little different this time because the canal was almost completely frozen!

Frosty Nyhavn 

Baguette!

Hersh (with break in hand) and me

We then set off on a quest to find gloves, as my poor little London friend forgot to bring them and the Copenhagen air was pretty unforgiving.  After picking up some mittens and thermal socks, we ventured over to the Round Tower with Rita and Meaghan.

*Note the new mittens*

Housemates :)

After climbing the tower, we went over to the glass market, which is becoming a favorite spot of my entire house, and for good reason- let's not forget that the glass market is home to Agnes Cupcakes!  This semester, we've discovered a great Greek deli that sells hummus, stands with fresh smoked salmon, and even froyo!  From there, we checked out the park behind said glass market.  There's a pond in the middle, which was (surprise!) completely frozen, so we got to see a few small children playing on the ice.  

After a full day of sight-seeing, we decided to brave the cold for a little while longer to check out some Copenhagen nightlife.  The next day, I woke up to SNOW outside my window.  It was a total surprise and must have taken place between the hours of like 3am and 8am, but it was so pretty on the yellow house outside my window:

Perfect little dusting outside my window!

Another frozen, snowy canal

Despite the snow, we managed to walk all the way to Christiania without slipping and severely hurting ourselves.  After a quick walk around and a nice warm cup of soup, we took the Metro back toward home where we hung out in the warm for the rest of the day before Hersh had to leave for the airport.  We were a little concerned all weekend because lots of flights to London were being cancelled due to snow, but Hersh made it home safe and sound and (hopefully) had smooth travels!  I think I sufficiently convinced him that Copenhagen is the best place ever, and overall it was a great weekend- having visitors while abroad is the BEST.  

Even though this week has just started, I've been keeping busy with some reading, some projects, and getting ready for the short study tour.  On Thursday morning, I'm heading off to Western Denmark with the Migration and Conflict program and I'm really excited!  Short study tour was a great experience last semester, and I can't wait to see some new places this time around while also meeting up with our friends in Aarhus!

Until next time, stay hyggelig and stay WARM.