Tuesday night after yoga with Ida and Helle, I went to Christiania with Kendall and some other friends to see Slightly Stoopid, an American band, in concert. The venue was a small bar called Loppen and the stage was literally just a raised platform. We were so close to them, they were sharing drinks with the people in the front row. Their music was a mix between OAR, Reel Big Fish and Bob Marley and we had a great time with a lot of other DIS kids and Danes dancing and hanging out. I also got to catch up with a friend from Tufts, Jill, who is also in my program but I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with yet, so that was really nice, too. The whole night was just very fun and relaxing.
We were literally right next to the stage.. so cool!
Yesterday was a huge day in Copenhagen because the International Olympic Committee made the decision of who would host the 2016 Olympic games here. The Obamas, Oprah and a ton of American athletes (ie Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Brandi Chastain, etc) came to Copenhagen for a few events and to make a presentation to the IOC on behalf of Chicago. Copenhagen could not have been more excited that our president was going to be in the city. On Thursday, all the students in my practicum wanted to talk about was the fact that Obama was coming to town and anyone that figured out I was an American asked how excited I was to see him. Although Michelle came for a few days, (and stayed at the ambassador's house a 10 minute bike ride away from my house...) Mr. was only here for 5 hours and the things that the city had to do for security purposes was insane. The Danish Prime Minister rides his bike when he travels in the city and when I was sailing, we saw the Crown Prince Frederik sailing openly on his boat in the sound between Denmark and Sweden. When Obama came to town, all the streets in one section were shut down, hotels and government buildings were inspected every few hours beginning a few days before and helicopters patrolled the sky the entire day. Anyways, there was a huge festival in the City Hall square, about a minute walk from where my program is. Throughout the day there were performances from Danish youth athletes of different sports that are in the summer games on a huge stage next to where they were streaming coverage of the meeting and presentation happening in another part of the city. After class, my friends Angela and Jessi and I showed our Chicago 2016 support and went to vollunteer, aka just wear our t-shirts and show our support to cameras and reporters and things. We were interviewed by some people and go to be loud and proud Americans, hah. The fans of the cities were crazy. Unfortunately, my camera battery died (so unlike me, I know) so I could not capture the costumes.. but for Tokyo, there were a dozen pikachus running around and guys with red polka dotted white wigs. The Brazilians were all out for Rio wearing flags and dressed all in green and yellow. The Spainards represented Madrid with lots of signs and painted faces. It was a really cool thing to be a part of because there was a ton of energy in the crowd. Angela, Jessi and I got pictures with all the different groups, which was fun. Jessi even got one with the Japanese version of Dane Cook who was out in the crowd rooting for his city. Before the final decision was made, there was a concert in the square, where some Danish DJs and rappers opened up for the main show: Aqua! Aqua was awesome. They dressed like they did back when they were very popular about 10 years ago (wow I sound old...) and sang some songs that reminded me of middle school, ie Barbie Girl. Finally, the committee made their decision and when Rio won, the fans went CRAZY. There were Brazilian people screaming and singing the national anthem and crying and throwing beer and dancing and it was really amazing to see. It was a really emotional moment for them and it was cool to see them so proud of their country. Everyone was sad (and surprised) that Chicago was knocked out first, but we were happy for Rio because it is a great opportunity for them.
Aqua, up close! We were in the very front of this huge crowd and it was awesome -- Ida even saw us on TV when she was watching the concert from home! 
from left, Angela, me, Adrian, Jessi and Mollie before the concert/announcement. Look at those bright orange t-shirts.. hah. The volunteers were in orange and the official Chicago people were in blue.. they were trying to get as close as we could to the Illinois flag. Too bad we didn't do too well..
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