Life Without a Microwave

It definitely makes me sad, but I must say, after 3 weeks of living without, it IS possible and life does go on. All leftovers just have to be reheated in the pan which means extra washing of dishes and no easy microwaveable popcorn. This latter fact will probably save me from dying of cancer early although with all the chocolate danishes and hot dogs I've been consuming, my life span has most likely already been considerably shortened. Check out this tasty bacon wrapped dog I had as a snack the other day!

Speaking of foods that will kill me one day, all 30 Rock fans should remember those crazy Mexican cheezy puffs that Liz Lemon (my idol) keeps snacking on constantly in every other episode. I've always wonderered what they tasted like and never could find them in the grocery store in Calgary. Voila! Ostepops are here in Copenhagen! Apparently there is quite a hype surrounding them with lots of people talking it up and such. (according to my roomie anyway) Buut Meh. They were tasty because they were really salty and I will continue to finish the bag that I've bought but I don't know that I would go looking for them all the time. Plus they weren't cheap! $4 CDN per bag! Say whaaat??

Moving past the discussion on killer foods, things have been rather tame here on this end with only moderate news to report. The best thing that happened today was that I got news my Russian visa is ready and I can finally get my Canadian passport back....which means more traveling yippee! We are currently planning a trip to Hamburg this weekend. Fun fact: Hamburg has the largest red light district in Europe. Wowzers!

All this traveling and eating is costing me a pretty penny (lots of pretty pennies actually) and I should mention that the other day I had a minor breakdown while doing some budgeting in my head. I thought it was a rather minute detail so didn't blog it at the time but then J Fern told me she also had a mini stroke after looking at some recent bank statements. So I'm thinking this is a rather common occurence amongst exchange students who want to do it all. Anyway, the thing is, after I had this breakdown (it happened one day during class while I was spacing out) I felt really terrible about myself and couldn't figure out how to find a solution to this problem so I roamed the streets of CPH. And what do you know? I ended up spending a whole bunch more money shopping and it somehow made me feel better.

Following this incident, (and upon learning that other law students seem to be in much more debt than me) I decided to adopt the motto: MEH. It's just money. That being said, I feel like after 3.5 weeks of living here I think much more like a local now. When walking around a store today, I asked myself 'Do I REALLY need that?' And 10 different times I put the item down and walked away. I got home empty handed except for a Danish chocolate bar called Daim, which was delicious btw. So congratz to me and now check out this peach danish I had the other day. It was the closest I could get to a lemon danish....

Also, here is a photo of the mall parking lot close by my flat. LOTS of people bike here! It is true it's very economical but also very dangerous. Motorbikes and mopeds also travel in the pedal bike lane and I find that everyday there are at least 4 times where some vehicle whizzes by me at way-to-close proximity and I find myself thanking God that I'm still alive. Of course, sometimes that has more to do with me running yellow and red lights and some big truck turning left just continues on like I'm not really there. I've really got to stop doing that.

Tonight was a truly magical night spent at Tivoli with some great company. Tivoli is like the Copenhagen equivalent to Disneyland. Except smaller. And less commercialized. It was awesome. And especially because we went there at night, the lights were all up. There were tonnes of quaint cafes overlooking lakes all in combination with games, rides, music stages and picturesquely lit structures. I am much too lazy to repost the pictures here so please check them out on facebook. =)