Biking in Copenhagen!

The story of my first experience biking in Copenhagen:

Following the crowd when you're lost is good advice to live by... Right?

In my first 2 weeks here, my mom had told me, "You know, it's a bit ironic that you just biked 1,800 miles, and now that you're in a city where everyone bikes, you don't have one." Well, just my luck, in my third week here, I got a bike! And by "got" I mean I was given one for free :) A Dane who lives on my hall named Magnus told me he had an old bike that's just sitting outside in the bike parking lot that I could ride. The bike's nothing pretty. Only one break works, the gears don't shift, and the seat's torn. But I don't care. I was just excited to have a bike! Plus, icing on the cake, it was FREE. Magnus showed me which bike it was, gave me the key, and showed me where the closest public tire pump is (right behind my dorm, yessssss). Now I can live like a true Dane! Or so I thought...

So that Saturday, I took the bike for a test ride. I biked my route to school with no problem (to make sure I knew how to get there come class on Monday), then I toured around the town. It was great. No problems. Bike rode great, and I didn't get lost.

So, come Monday, I was excited to bike to school for the first time. Like a true Dane, I wore a skirt with leggings, a cute shirt, and a scarf. Good to go. Unfortunately, there are three main roads that fan out in all directions from where I live, and at 8:30 that morning, I mildly forgot which of the 3 led to school. I looked around a bit, then saw a huge line of bike traffic (many riders looking like students) taking the road to the left. That must be my road, I said to myself. Wrong. Soon, I found myself utterly lost and standing in front of the Queen's palace, about 20 minutes away from my school. After attempting to ask directions from Danes, and having to embarrassingly spell out the names of the roads I was looking for since my pronunciation was so poor, I finally made it to my school. I was nervous and shaking from a combination of being lost and being late for my class. The 2 mile ride that was supposed to take 10 minutes took about 55. But, (be impressed, Mom) I was only 5 minutes late to class! By my clock, that's on time. Because, I have gotten into the habit of leaving really early for my classes in case (just in case...) I get lost/the bus is late/traffic is bad etc. What is Denmark doing to me???

Biking (for real this time) like a true Dane

So now that I'm over 3 months into my semester here, I have become a champ at navigating my way to school, weaving through bike traffic, and biking away in any outfit or footwear. It's my favorite thing about the city I think, how bike-friendly it is and how Danes are such die-hard bikers. I now really look forward to my morning ride to school in the chilly morning air. It's an incredibly refreshing way to wake up, and it beats taking the slow, crowded bus any day.

Plus, Danes bike in ANY weather. I mean ANYTHING. It doesn't matter if it's sleeting and dark outside. There WILL be people biking. I guarantee it.

Example A: The past two days, there's been freezing rain. This is the only time when the weather here really is miserable. The cold is not bad, I bike to school in it each day, no complaints. I quite like it actually. But cold, wet, and windy?? Sorry. I took the bus. But you better believe I looked out the window admirably as lines of bikers cruised next to me on their morning commute to work (one of which, no joke, was a 60+ year old lady. She showed me up as I sat on the heated bus. Let me tell you, that woman had my respect).

Example B: IT SNOWED HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME YESTERDAY!!!! We got about 2-3 inches. It was glorious, but also quite cold. A group of us was heading out to celebrate my friends 20th birthday (she's a youngin), so of course all the girls were inappropriately dressed for the weather in sockings, dresses, and skirts, and as we walked from the metro to the bar, there were people cruising by us on bikes at 11:00pm, in the snow, in 20* weather. Nothing stops them.

However, this morning, instead of taking the bus (oh so tempting), I too jumped on my bike and biked to and from school today, surrounded on all sides by snow. It was actually really fun. Nothing makes me feel more Danish than biking in weather that (by the standards of any other country) is un-bikeable.