Denmark: Snowy winters and dark skies

By alexandradenmark12/03/2010

Firstly, I must apologise for not updating this more often, however, the truth is that nothing much has happened. We had a long Christmas break as January is reserved for exams and as I (like most international students) only did essays in December I had the month off. Originally I planned to do exciting things and visit exciting places but in reality I spent most of it enjoying cosy nights in with friends.

Denmark is an expensive place, especially when it comes to transport within the country so trips around the country should attempt to see the country in its best form, because I’ll only be able to afford to do it once while I’m here. January, as did February, turned out to be a snowy gray month, it didn’t get light until 10am and it was dark again by 4pm, so I decided to put the tour off until Easter or May.

Den Gamle By in the Afternoon

The snow has been nice in some ways… it certainly made the city look pretty on the rare days we had clear skies. I’ve not been able to look outside without seeing snow for 2 months now, and I think I’m about ready for spring now. The worst thing about the snow is that I can’t cycle, which causes me to take the forever overcrowded and overpriced bus to university. I’m really looking forward to getting back on my bike again.

Although I may have not done anything exciting too recently, I did go to Århus before Christmas so I should really write about that. ESN Copenhagen arranged a trip to Arhus, the second largest city in Denmark, just before Christmas which involved travel and museum entry to Den Gamle By (The old town). Århus itself is a small town rather than a city, but then everything in Denmark is on a cuter smaller scale than in the UK. Even so, I shouldn’t underestimate it, it’s very pretty and well preserved as a historic town full of cobbled streets and colourful buildings and well worth spending an afternoon exploring. Although for me, the best part about the town is Den Gamle By.

The old preserved houses were beautiful and full of charm and many of them had kept the original furniture and purposes. For example, there was an old post office complete with telegraph machine, sorting office even an old ink and quill. There were horse drawn carriages offering trips around the town, and best of all, because it was close to Christmas there was an old fashioned Christmas market.

Old Bakery

Den Gamle By is a must for anyone visiting Denmark, let alone on exchange here. Denmark is a very cosy country, so cosy they have their own unique word for it (Hygge) so as you can expect, Christmas is quite a big deal. They bake traditional Christmas cookies, make traditional paper heart Christmas tree decorations, and have cosy family time. Most of this could be said for most of Scandinavia, I guess when December can be a cold dark month you might as well make the most of it! Copenhagen had wonderful decorations, as did Malmö (swedish town across the bridge). I defintly reccomment spending a weekend or week here around christmas time.