Law camp and pancakes

Yeah everyone, so another week here in Denmark and I’ve now been here two months and still loving it. It’s been an fantastic week weather wise in Copenhagen. The snow is melting and we have had a week of sunshine and of +2 degree weather. It’s really cool they actually have seasons here. Not the season of really hot and not too hot like we have in Australia.

So last weekend I had my law camp weekend away. This was a weekend away to the western part of Denmark about 2-3hrs out of Copenhagen on the beachside. A number of you have made reference to how nerdy this camp sounds. Let me reassure you it was far from nerdy (Though I did have some pretty intense religion discussions at 2am in the morning!). So the camp was for international students studying law in Copenhagen and was an opportunity for us to get to know each other. Basically it descended into 2 nights of “drinking, sex and rock’n roll”. Ok maybe not that insane on my part anyway. On the first night we had a white themed party. I dressed quite boringly and had just had white shirt and whitish pants. This was alot of fun until about 3am when someone set off the fire alarm TWICE. Thankfully (or not) the fire department didn’t come and we didn’t have to pay a fine. It’s very reassuring that the Danish fire department know when it’s a real fire and when it’s just a false alarm.

Me in my white costume. Lame I know.

The white party

On Saturday we all spent the day recovering from the antics from the night before. This including playing cards and some team based games such as table curling which was surprising a really cool game. We also went down to check out the beach which was an amazing sight. Due to it being so cold the waves are completely iced and the shore was just ice and snow. Nothing like Aussie beaches.

The beach

Curling action

Then we had another themed party for Fastelavn which is a traditional Danish festival where you dress up in Halloween style costumes. The festivities include something called slå katten af tønden which translates to "hit the cat out of the barrel". An interesting tradition. To be honest I’m still a little confused on what this festival is. To me it just seemed like a Halloween style festival where you hit a cat out of a barrel and drink. I’m sure there is more to it than this but that was the impression I got of Fastelavn. Still it was heaps of fun.

My costume for Fastelavn (I'm on the right if you can't figure it out)

Me again but posing with my mates costume. Extremely original I thought.

Also last week I signed up and started playing badminton. Yes I know in Australia badminton is seen as a bit of nerdy sport but surprisingly the Danes love it and are really good at it. So I thought as I way of embracing the Danish culture I would start playing one of their typical sports.

I’ve realised recently I haven’t mentioned much about the church I’m attending here in Denmark. So here is a quick update. I’ve been going to United CPH which has a loose affiliation with Hillsong here in Copenhagen. This church is very young (Only be around 10 years I think) and only has about 30ish regular members. Also I’ve joined one of the connect groups which has been really good and they have been nice enough to speak English even though I’m the only native English speaker. Also I’ve joined one of the uni student organised bible studies which is run by the Lutheran church here in Copenhagen. So I’m definitely been connecting with alot of Danish Christians and getting their perspectives on being a Christian in Denmark which has been interesting and really helpful. Also I’m really keen to head down to Malmo and check out C3 there but unfortunately laziness mixed with cost has prevented me but rest assure I will be heading there soon and checking out the C3 movement in Europe.

Finally last week I went to a welcome to Copenhagen ceremony which was run by the city. The Mayor spoke and welcomed all the new residents of Copenhagen to the city and we got free pancakes, a speciality of Copenhagen. Definitely felt welcome.

Take care everyone.

Jono