The Nordics are rocking my (culinary) socks

When I was in Denmark and Finland last year, I sampled some typically Nordic food.



Reindeer. Red currants. Wild strawberries. Rye Bread concoctions. You know, that type of thing.



Well, they are really making the culinary world stand up and take notice at the moment.



Earlier this year, A Danish restaurant upped the ante and went up 2 places to win the top spot in the San Pellegrino "World's Best 50 restaurants" .



I found this article in October 25th edition of TIME Magazine, about some stuff and stuff that is happening in Finland at the moment, in terms of food, and it sounds awesome.



I want to spend my life reporting on this stuff.

Breakfast in Denmark, Icecream in Sweden, Sleep time in Netherlands

My new BFF was a very nice, camp, young (21), Turkish med student dude from Istanbul that was staying in the same dorm as me. His name was Yagiz, but pronounced "Yuuurs" (??) and we hung out a bit.

On the first day we met, after doing some free stuff and eating lunch, we were bored at a cafe, and he randomly ran into a friend of his from Istanbul, Mert, who wsa studying Arts Management in Copenhagen, and who showed us around a bit, introduced us to some locals, and we went to a free moonlight cinema screening of the movie "Milk".

To be honest, Copenhagen was beautiful, but I just didn't feel "it" there. I just didn't like it, and I was spending money on food and survival, and I spent way too much there. There is something to be said for hanging out in a city of rich, beautiful people - your self esteem plummets along with your bank account balance. I wanted to change my flights, and go to Amsterdam sooner, but I couldn't without spending more money.

I mooched around a bit, in a bad mood, eating burger king and getting in worse moods.

Our last night in Copenhagen, we were sitting in the square off the main shopping street, drinking Carlsberg beer from the 7-11 and we met a couple of danish guys and some really young (18) kids from Chicago.

The Danes were crazy, unemployed, bisexual... drinking beers from crate that they had found outside Central Station and carrying a garbage bag of chips around with them, talking to tourists.

Photo courtesy of Chicago Nat's facebook album

We ended up going to a heavy metal club with them called 'The Rock'. I left promptly after arriving, thinking that I was way too old for this crap. By "this crap", I meant hanging out with people a whole generation younger than me, in a place where I felt severely out of place and you had to have 9 holes in your face and have an appreciation for Rage against the machine. I went home.

Yagiz convinced me to live life on the edge, and on our last day in Copenhagen, catch a train to Malmo, in Sweden. For $20 AU i thought being in 3 countries in one day could be a bit of a thrill.

We bought our tickets from Central Station for 78 DKK, and then ate fake subway ( Sunset Boulevard) for breakfast.

Photos courtesy of Yagiz's facebook album

(You probably want to see photos of Malmo and not me eating but whatever, I'll put them up in a big album later.

We caught the train, went down the longest bridge in Europe, connecting Denmark with Sweden, and saw Malmo.

Photos courtesy of Yagiz's facebook album

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It was a shithole ( a pretty shithole, but nothing to do ) but a much cheaper place than Copenhagen; we had walked the entire circumference of the city and saw all it's sights in an hour. I ate an icecream, and a hamburger from burger king.

Photos courtesy of Yagiz's facebook album

We then caught a train to the airport, because he was leaving the same day as me. Even though he was younger than me, we got along like a house on fire, and it was sort of sad to say goodbye even though we only met 2 days ago.


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Arrivéd in Amsterdam last night with a cough, at about 10pm. Upon exiting the airport, all I could smell was marijuana smoke. I decided to skip the hostel I had booked, with suspicions that I would feel worse than better, if I spent hours searching for a tiny hole in the wall hostel, and snuck in to a room with 4 other people. I decided I would live the high life in a 2.5 star hotel near the airport for 49 Euro.

My own room, shower, plasma and a double bed to recover. 10 hours of sleep was bliss.When I caught the free airport shuttle back to the airport, it smelt like weed. I went to the Airport doctor this morning, barely able to speak. It's not Swine Flu, it's just a normal flu. Sweet.

I just went to the newsagent, and thought they might sell an Expat newspaper in english, like othr cities do. ( Jakarta Post? Copenhagen Times?)

"If it was in english, it wouldn't be a dutch paper then would it?" the guy laughed at me.

Whatever. Jerk.

Welcome to my new home, and my new life in Amsterdam.

Happy to report...

.. that I have found a new friend, and things are looking significantly better than yesterday.

The shared dormitory hasn't been too bad so far, the guys in the dorm are pretty quiet and probably a bit sorry for me, being the only girl. Having not grown up with any brothers or anything, it is still a bit weird to be surrounded by all guys.

There is one guy from Beijing who is here on a conference, and 2 lil frenchies from Paris that look really wet behind the ears, the librarian from Colorado, and then some more randoms I can't be bothere chit chatting too, because they have kept to themselves so far.

Something that makes me even happier is that the toilets and showers aer cleaner than what I thought... scraping the bottom of the barrel for some sunshine here.

I got a decent night's sleep which also helps the situation so far.

I feel like a bit of a loser for being so down and out yesterday, but i expect that it won't be the last time that i feel like that, writing to the outside world made me better though.

Did the whole museum thing this morning, and went to have some danish open sandwhiches which were affordable-ish and yummy, and now looking for a place to have a drink, because my liver has been complaining that I have been keeping it too pristine for the last 2 or 3 days.

2 things still haven't changed;

1. This city is still robbing me of my savings. I am trying to do all the free stuff.

2,My phone still isn't working and I have no idea why, my new BFF and I went to the Tourist Information office today and we asked about that, and they said it was a common question today, so perhaps the phone companies are on strike or something to that effect.

I think you can ring me but I just can't ring out, or sms out. I had to do the whole ET phone home thing, just in case this isn't the case, and people can't actually ring me. I am sure my parents are relieved to hear from me, since my dad recently watched a movie about Human trafficking, and scared himself shitless and tried to hunt me down for 2 days while I was in the Finnish countryside, and there wasn't a lot of reception.

By the way, Copenhagen at dusk is really beautiful, so many little narrow cobblestone lanes with exquisite looking restaurants with sexy couples and groups of young people being Danish and chic.

Interior design here is a big thing, the only ugly place I have seen is the bloody Australian pub at the end of my street, and it is painted in yellow and gold, with boxing kangaroos all over it. Seriously bad street presence.

Anyway, that is all. Over and out.

Initial Copenhagen observations

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1.Everyone is fucking beautiful. And cool. Really fucking cool.
2.Everything is fucking expensive.
3.My hostel seems to be deader than a doornail, even though they claim to be full.
4. The Canadian guy that just checked in is a wanker.
5. I want to be back in Helsinki.
6.My phone doesn't work here and it's really fucking me off because I don't know why.
7. I think I am cranky because I'm all alone, even though the sun is shining in Copenhagen and it's a beautiful city, with beautiful people, and beautiful shops and buildings, and I should be happy.
8. I need to do washing and the nearest laundrymat is a 20 minute walk away.
9. The only thing I could smell for about 2 hours after I checked in was cheap men's spray on deoderant because I am sharing a room with 7 boys, and an old American librarian from Denver, Colorado that wanted to share his life history with me as I was settling into the room. Do I sound thrilled? No? Probably because I'm not.
10. As for point 10, apparently this is the only bed that was free for 3 continuous nights. Mixed dorm, poo.
11. I hate my suitcase more than I hate being by myself.
12. Re-reading point number 8 makes me even more annoyed.
13. My ears are still trying to clear themselves up after the bashing they took on the flight over here.
14. KFC still uses their old branding here. It's retro.
15. Burger King are offering hamburgers for 10 DKK. Approx $2.40. I might be on a Burger King diet for the next 3 days as even a hot dog costs twice this much. To put it into perspective, I bought a bus ticket from the airport to the city and it cost 35 DKK, and an ice tea cost me 25 DKK. I spent almost $15 on a bus ticket and a drink. That would have at least got me a hamburger in Helsinki.
16. I acknowledge this has been a whingey post, but I don't care.

Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow after I eat and check out this jazz club at the end of the street.