Fear and Loathing in Copenhagen

I had a crazy two days just now. I went out to a big block party in Nørrebro which consisted of drinking on top of freighter containers, lots of Tuborg Guld and of course plenty of pissing in the street. We met some interesting characters: 16-year-old Danish rappers, some party people who invited us to an apartment party at 5 that morning. We stayed until 6, I got a falafel and we went to have a little morning spliff. I got home at 9, slept until 2, picked up some tall cans and biked to Parken for the FCK football match. Good shit no doubt. I will spare the boring details, but it has been interesting carousing the streets of Copenhagen.

Bicycle Tour

Today, I showed up to the bicycle scavenger hunt where only one other student was present. We were led by Anders, a flamboyant, über-fab DIS employee around the various spots in København. We started with a sex shop in the red light district, passed the Carlsberg brewery, toured the harbor and found fruit-bearing trees throughout the city. He was an informative guide as well as a good time. It was nice to explore what was before distant territory. Pretty much the shit. Random adventures are the best.

Intentionally Lost

Yesterday I went to the grave of Søren Kierkegaard. Very cool. I took a spin on my bike through the deeper reaches of Frederiksberg and Nørrebro that I hadn't seen before. There was some cool stuff. The other girl from Whittier met up with me yesterday and we watched the sunset in Christiania and then got a falafel pizza. I am enjoying my neighborhood and just kickin it. I will be doing plenty of biking today too. The weather has continued to be warm and sunny with just a little rain here and there. Now that I know my hard drive accepts European current, I have few excuses left to not be recording already so I will try to bust out some songs the next time I get a chance. I have been bumpin some old school and also re-addicted to the Pharcyde. Until next time, farvel.

Sountrack:

Geto Boyz - Mind Playing Tricks on Me
The Pharcyde - She Said
Grouch & Eligh - Everafter
Tupac - Smile

First Self-Made Danish Dinner

I went shopping for the first time today, which is always an adventure, especially in a foreign language. I made smørrebrød for dinner -- herring on rye bread -- with a side of baked beans. Must admit, my current living situation is the epitome of ghetto fabulous, but don't forget the fabulous part. The neighborhood is like Danish Brooklyn. The dryer machines are expensive ($2/4 min!!) so I am doing it up old school and air drying out my window. So for now, I am just kicking it with my curry herring and Italian red wine. Time to kick back and see where the night takes me. I have yet to find anyone here (of the Americans) who would make a good addition to the shitshow crew. It is still early, so I will try to be optimistic. Peace.

New Crib

What can I say? Life is pretty much perfect right now. Moved into the student apts. today (gorgeous of course). Got the studio set up and gave all the newcomers a guided tour of Christiania. Lollers. Anywho, I am about to head out for an epic dub night in Christiania. Just pimpin it big (as always) and enjoying the adventure. Gotta retrieve my bike sometime, it's locked up at Nørreport. Anywho...rock on my (few) loyal readers. Shout outs to the whole crew. Peace.

Beach Weather

The past two days have been flawlessly sunny and warm, I have spent them just chilling at the beach all day. Denmark and California perhaps share similar customs: riding a fixed-gear cruiser to the beach, lounging about, and soaking up the sun rays. I played my guitar for a few hours while staring at the coast of Sweden and having a puff of spiced up Bali Shag. I am getting ready to move into the student apts. on Sunday. I have a loose agenda for the weekend consisting of parties Friday and Saturday and hopefully catching Rub'A'Dub Sundays and gettin irie to some riddims...løl. In all seriousness though, should be a fun time. I am also picking up my new trusty black steed from the bike repair shop tomorrow. Even though it is a damercykel (women's bike) I will still ride it ferociously. (It has actually come into style for young men to ride women's bikes, don't ask me why.)

In other news I have read almost 150 pages today, finishing Malcolm Gladwell's social science book Outliers and have cleared the first 100 pages of another book of his, The Tipping Point. I am glad to be reading voraciously again; it never hurts to give the mind a good workout. I have still been writing for my usual publications, but perhaps not as prosaic usual. I am trying to become a better writer, and tons of reading is part of the curriculum. I am not too worried about the DIS classes -- I have heard that they are easier than normal Whittier upper-divisions. With that being said, though, I plan on getting straight A's this semester as I continue to make my way towards Berkeley's journalism school. Hopefully Michael Pollan has not retired by the time I get there (Fall 2013).

Anywho, that's about it for now!

Recent soundtrack:

Art Tatum - Art Tatum: Piano Starts Here
Tupac - "Smoke Weed All Day"
Greatful Dead - American Beauty and The Closing of Winterland
Ornette Coleman - Change of the Century
Ghostly International (Adult Swim) - Ghostly Swim

First Christiania Trip

Yesterday I ventured down to the island of Christianshavn and took a little stroll through Christiania, a hippie community built from old army barracks. This is probably my favorite place I've seen in the city and is bustling with all sorts of interesting activity. Despite thick clouds of pot smoke drifting through the wind, many a mother is to be seen pushing her infant in a stroller. Later, I met Valdemar for a beer in the park and then Stephanie, an old exchange student to my high school. I hadn't seen her in 5 years, but she didn't look too much different. I left the city at almost 1 in the morning and biked through the pitch black night arriving home at 2. I will be moving into the kollegium on Sunday but might just stay in the city for the day or two before then as my train pass is running out. I have been here a week and it already feels longer. It will be strange when the other exchange students arrived. They missed out on some good summer weather.

Thæ Mørning Åfter

After working on the road today with the neighborhood crew, I went into the city for night of cavorting and carousing. Chaos ensues.

General overview of the night:

8:30 - Arrive at Nørreport station, walk around the block, follow the music.

9:00 - Follow the drunk people and the music along Nansensgade, find my friend's bar.

9:05 - First beer.

9:30 - Found the dubstep booth out of the dozen or so DJs playing on the street. Bob my head a little and enjoy the smell of dank permeating the air.

9:35 - Gin & tonic. Mmmmmm. Return to the dubstep tent and bob my head some more.

9:45 - Get sick of dubstep, re-up on the beer and go to the house booth. Watch people dance and get shitty. This is dope. I'm starting to love København even more.

10:00 - 12:00 - Steady flow of beer and house music. Go to take a piss in mouth-shaped urinals in the basement of Bankeråt. Good shit.

12:15 - The most hellacious urge to pee encompasses my whole body and my bladder feels like it will burst any minute. I walk down to the lake and pretend to make a phone call while I piss on the grass. Most people are just doing it in the lake.

12:30 - A boy pedaling a bike with a speaker system tries (unsuccessfully) to plow through the crowd on the street. He is pumping house music from a PA and we won't let him leave. Buy two mini pizza dealios from a street kiosk and indulge my drunk munchies. Puff on the communal spliff making its way through the crowd.

1:30 - My friend's shift ends, we go back inside the bar and have a few beers/meet his coworkers (who all happen to be gorgeous women, he is the only guy working at the bar; go figure).

2:00 - 3:00 Drink on the street some more, go to a basement jam session right after it closes, go to the corner store and get a sixer of Tuborg.

3:30 - Go to get a rental ShittyBike (they are really called City Bikes but they are designed for people like 4 feet tall. Ironic in a country where everyone is tall. The hilarity, sadly, does little for my aching legs. I'm drunk and it's free, so I'm not complaining.

3:45 - Return to Nansensgade to find a riot scene going on with the party now moving up to practically every apartment above. Somehow even more people than before. Down to the last two beers which we decide to drink as we bike.

4:30 - Biking drunk through København, no traffic, the sun is rising as we cross the bridge into Christianshavn.

5:00 - Arrive at the apartment, carry the heavy rental bike up 6 floors and park it in the kitchen. Pass out on the couch.

Noon - Wake up, feel like death, chug some water and go back to sleep.

2:30 - Gain enough strength to leave the apartment. Go back to Nansensgade to return the bike. Street looks like a bomb went off. Walk to Nørrebro and get some fucking tasty ass falafel. Walk around, drink some coffee (medicine), go back to Nørreport.

5:30 - Catch the train back to Humlebæk and have a nice stroll through the countryside.

Great night. Hope it happens every weekend.

First Day Busking

Never underestimate the power of jet lag. Yesterday I slept until almost 2 in the afternoon. Knowing how everything closes a little early here in Denmark, I tried to make it into the city as early as possible to try and get a busker's permit (so the police do not come bother me). However, after going from one gov't building to the next and talking to the many street musicians that were out on such a nice day, I soon decided to abandon the idea and take my chances.

I posted up on one of København's many walking streets and played the Rolling Stones' "Dead Flowers" and some jazz tunes just long enough to make 12 kr which I gave to the self-described vagabond sitting next to me. I walked in circles for a few hours until I could meet Valdemar, a 24-year-old barkeep with whom I would give the pleasure of answering all of my questions about the young side of life in Denmark and all of the good stuff that entails.

Valdemar and I then caught the train back to Humlebæk at just kicked it for a minute. He invited/informed me a block party going on Saturday at which I could meet his fun loving friends and drink for free at his bar (I could not ask for anything more on my first weekend here). Today, I just need to get a few things worked out with my school program and then I should be golden.

My Danish friend shared with me a quote which I find especially appropriate by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, "Life is lived forward and understood backwards."

Electrocution

I just almost fried myself stupidly trying to plug in an American power strip to my size converter (which lacks a more inportant VOLTAGE converter). My hard drive / pro-tools box arrived in my lost suitcase today, albeit a little smashed. I will wait to get a proper converter before frying my life's musical work. Trying to get a cell phone today so I can get in touch with all my Danish peoples. Glad that my other clothes arrived so I can stop dressing like I am going to work every day. Last night, I got extremely paranoid about my recently-pulled wisdom teeth. I was rinsing in the sink and out popped a little chunk of "something." Thought it might be a blood clot but turned out to be little more than a mushroom. Still didn't keep me from frantically phoning the dental office over Skype and asking them a laundry list of questions.

I am going to test the musical waters today and bike up to Helsingør to try and busk for some money. All goes well I shall buy some nice beer/liquor for my friends I am staying with. Until then, here's to hoping I don't get fried by the double voltage here in Europe.

Peace.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

I awake to the sound of rain outside my window and the taste of vomit in my mouth. My first full night of sleep in three days. Inevitably, during one of the 4 flights over here the airlines lost my bag with clothing, gifts, toiletries and the hard drive containing my life's musical work. My first day, yesterday, left me bewildered, confused, exhausted and somewhat depressed. Not just being in a far away place, but just feeling far removed from humanity in general. Now, I wait. Wait for school to start in two weeks. Wait to restore my body to a normal sleep pattern. Wait for my fucking suitcase with over half my shit in it. Wait for re-engagement into society, albeit not my usual one. I guess none of it really matters..that's the point. I'm alive, and really nothing else matters too much. But life itself is inherently devoid of meaning. Rather a white linen which picks up the colors and tints and threads of everything it comes into contact with. On the upside, my mouth has regained almost a whole third of its function after having 4 wisdom teeth pulled last week. I have completely rejected the notion of luck, as that is all a matter of opinion; a scapegoat for when we try to inject to much meaning into things. Is it that we give meaning to the things around us as humans, or that they do that to us. Or both; or neither. I am stationary for the first time in nearly 2 days and my head spins like none other. So now, I will wait...and wait...and wait...