Freedom in Copenhagen?
It has been about two weeks since I’ve arrived to Copenhagen. Before I came abroad, I was constantly baffled by the geographical knowledge of my fellow schoolmates and friends. Copenhagen is the main big city of Denmark, a little island with canals, swamps, lakes, etc. all around its crevices. It’s beautiful; a returnee that I spoke to was annoyed of the weather when she was here, but the weather is not all that bad… yet.
Last week, when the sun was out to warm the Amager Beach Park (which is a short walk away from my house—just like the distance from Abrego to DP), I took the opportunity for a long stroll around the shores. Freedom Item 1: nudity. Boobies of all size, shapes and age were everywhere. I was excited to know that I can take it all off without a care, but it would have been awkward since my roommate was with me (I’ll save the awkward roommate story for a different post). Nakedness makes sense to me and it always has. We were born naked, and after a certain age we became shy with our bodies, as if we have something to hide. Moreover, we even get arrested and fined for it; I’d like to see a baby running around in his/her diaper being stopped by the police. The concept of clothing, the question “What should I wear today?”, the constant worrying of if this and that looks “good” on me, fashion and the “I’m going to pay $50 for this shirt because this brand/style is popular.” How disgusting to disguise yourself. Wouldn’t it be nice to not give a fuck? Europe, 1; CA, 0.
Last Wednesday, my new French friend (one amazing guy) and I bought a liter of Vermouth (15%), a “fortified wine” (according to Wikipedia). It tastes like honey, almost as sweet as Pucker, but cost only about 25-30 DKK (5-10 bucks). Freedom Item 2: drunk/drinking in public. Sitting pretty in the city center metro station, Norreport, we drank freely while waiting for other international students to meet with us. To push it, we played a new drinking game, taking 10-second pulls of the sugar according to the countdowns on the pedestrian walkways. Drinking in public was no longer a crime in my book. We never made it to the party at studenterhuset, AKA the student house/bar (by the way, the university owns a volunteer-based bar that students guest bartend for—I’m starting on Wednesday night!). All we had to do was follow our friends straight there, but walking straight was merely impossible. Luckily, I heard it was closed anyways. Now I didn’t portray myself as some stupid drunk American because I was not alone: There has not been a day (yet) that I haven’t seen people drinking (or drunk) in public. Come to think of it, I haven’t even seen what a policeman looks like yet. Europe, 2; CA, 0.
Finally is the reason and inspiration for this blog. Christiania, or “Freetown”, utterly culture-shocked me the most. I feel like I don’t even have to go to Amsterdam anymore. As a girl from NorCal, Berkeley was THE hippie town in my mind—until yesterday. This town was a bit bigger than Isla Vista and surrounded by walls covered by colorful graffiti. At the side entrance, people with tattoos, dreadlocks, guitars and joints were coming and going. The warm Copenhagen breeze carried scents of hash and marijuana that quickly awakened my senses and reminded me of good times in Santa Barbara. Hip-hop beats blared from the center, earcandy compared to the shitty electronica music that killed my last two days. I passed by sprinkles of marijuana plants that were still struggling to bud, and people were smoking cigarettes and marijuana while having a small snack of falafels and Danish treats. Metaphorical sculptures were made with wires and twisted steel that had rusted overtime. Vendors were selling random things like always: clothes, scarves, jewelry, red-yellow-green things, falafels and knitted finger puppets (wtf?).
In the midst of my dream-like walk, I saw many stands selling bricks of gold, silver and brown and what I assumed was jars of more Danish treats. Upon closer inspection, these bricks were hash, fist-sized hash. The jars were all full of skunk. These “dealers” were nothing more than friendly sales associates that stood as vendors. At one of the stands, the happily-stoned man who looked like just a regular Joe asked me if I needed help with my browsing. The price? I’ve never seen such good quality with prices as low as this. It’s RIDICULOUS. From what I recall, at home, friends have to have special “connections” to get this kind of stuff. This was amazing. This existed? No way. It was always about Amsterdam this and that, but this is special. This place is my new home.
Well, my buddies and I continued our exploration of the town which included a huge lake where scatters of people were stoned, drunk, and playing sweet guitar indie songs (in different languages). There are still spots I have yet to explore, so I am going back in a few days. Live Danish rap music was playing at a small stage but the crowd was enormous. These people were of all ages (yes, even kids as young as 5. I suppose they’re hippie children), most were drinking or drunk, stoned or blazing, and everybody swayed to the sick beats of the artists, UFO & Yepha (http://www.nemoland.dk). We came on the right day!
Now words are no match to what I experienced. Of course, there were several rules that I saw around the town that were a bit more restricting than free. For example, there is absolutely no photography allowed, and I saw several signs that said “No Camping!” That’s understandable. Christiania does not want to be wrecked by tourists and portrayed as just a bunch of druggies. Moreover, though the place looks ghetto, I heard it through the grapevine that people pay a lot to live in this tax-free town that is freely governed by its inhabitants. Lastly, this town is romantically in love with pot, but signs everywhere say, “Say No To Hard Drugs.” Completely understandable—and I absolutely agree.
That’s all I have to say thus far. I have fallen in love with Copenhagen and the people that I’ve met. Final score? Europe,3; CA, 0. (Just kidding, my heart will always be in California, so it’s actually Europe, 3; CA, 1,000,000.)
4 Responses to “Freedom in Copenhagen?”
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Jesus H Christ, can someone please employ a sub-editor, this reads like it was written by someone still at school.
you don’t have to read it if you don’t like it. yes I’m still in school
this is a blog for UCSB’s newspaper, of course the writers are still in school..?
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