For me, the first two months passed by in a flash, but all throughout my adventures in Europe, there was always one thing that was a consistent companion: coffee. Yes, I have dedicated an entire entry to (mostly) coffee because I love it so much. You could call me a coffee snob and you wouldn't be wrong at all. With my knowledge of biking reinforced again, it was only natural for me to rent one (which I got from Swapfiets) and explore the city. Of course, along the way, I encountered many a coffee shops.
To explain, during the COVID-19 lockdown, I got into specialty coffee as a hobby; hell, I even got myself a pourover dripper, an Aeropress (basically a fancier version of a french press), a coffee scale, and a fairly fancy hand grinder. The thing is, Hawaii isn't exactly known for specialty coffee, save for a few cafes (shoutout to The Curb in Kaimuki), and with the state of COVID-19 at that time, I pretty much had no one to talk to about my growing interest. With Copenhagen, however, coffee culture was everywhere. In fact Danes, are the fourth largest coffee consumers in the world, and I loved them for it. I could finally obsess about the "acidity" or "body" of a certain coffee and compare different origins and processes with others, but I doubt anybody wants to hear about the jargon. Instead, I want to talk about a few encounters I had scouring the city for good coffee. My first encounter with a specialty cafe in Copenhagen occurred not too long after I landed; there was a coffee shop named "Impact Roasters," which was merely a 5 minute walk from where I lived in Flintholm. When I found out that CBS was hosting a coffee tasting event for less than $5.00 USD, I jumped at the chance, both to meet new people and to taste coffee. I was surprised to discover that the owner of this chain was a previous CBS student, who had come to Denmark from Ethiopia and wanted to share his coffee drinking culture with the rest of the world. Not only did I see a live coffee roasting machine and saw how it actually worked, I also participated in the traditional way of drinking coffee in Ethiopia--that is--with a side of popcorn. After a short little lesson on how to taste coffee, our small group were finally treated to a coffee "cupping" session, in which we were challenged to correctly identify the roast levels from dark roast to light roast, from three different coffees. The winners would receive a free bag of coffee. Out of our group of around 25, only four of us got all three. Thankfully, I was one of them because I definitely would have gone through a mini-existential crisis if I didn't. With that, experience, I think my coffee journey officially began. Another coffee chain which is nostalgic to me now is "Coffee Collective," probably the most well-known specialty coffee brand in Denmark. I remember spending many afternoons and mornings studying and socializing with my friends at these shops which were scattered across the city. For me, Coffee Collective was pretty much the quintessential cafe experience. The shops were quiet, but not too quiet. They all had sleek, modern looking interiors, but were cozy enough to relax in. They each had varied menu for the coffee enthusiast, but it was approachable enough so that your friends wouldn't get freaked out. And most importantly for me, they always had new beans available every few weeks which I eagerly bought once I ran out of a bag. From Ethiopian coffees, to Kenyan coffees, to Columbian coffees, to Guatemalan coffees, it was an absolute utopia for me. They were perfect for the cold fall and winter days. My most memorable coffee trip actually occurred near the tail end of my stay in Copenhagen, on the second to last week. I decided to visit April Coffee, which was a coffee shop that's been on my radar since I got into the hobby because of their coffee brewing videos and guides. I wanted to get a bag of beans and their pourover dripper to bring back home, but I also wanted to try out their handpoured coffee. It was was definitely the priciest coffee shop I've been too, thus, the fact that I kept it for last. Funnily enough, the reason why this visit was so memorable was because while I was waiting for my coffee to be finished, I noticed another person who asked the barista for three different coffees. "And don't tell me which one is which. I want to try to figure it out myself!" To my surprise, I decided to strike up a conversation with this man, who introduced himself as Evan. And to my even greater surprise, we had a conversation that lasted nearly two hours discussing everything from how we got into coffee as a hobby, to where we came from and what we were doing in Copenhagen. He said that he was born in Israel, but mostly worked in his home state of California. He also told me that he found out about April Coffee from YouTube videos, just like me! It really was one of the most interesting conversations I had with a stranger while abroad. Needless to say, my overpriced coffee wasn't the highlight of that visit at all. Throughout my semester, I wanted to summarize what I learned into a short entry in my journal, and I think that these encounters got me closer to what I was looking for. A theme started to emerge.
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Besides coffee (a hobby that I will be talking about in the next entry), long distance running was an activity that I vowed I would continue even after I landed in the city. My goal? Run the Copenhagen Half-Marathon. This project was in the works since the beginning of January 2022. Once I got the go ahead by my study abroad advisor to start working on the paperwork and applications for the MIX program, I decided to get serious with running again. I ran more miles than I've ever ran before up until the start of my actual half-marathon program. The last of week of May signaled not only the end of the semester, but also the beginning of >10 mile long runs and leg-wrecking speed workouts--all in preparation for this one goal. I promised to myself that I would never skip a training run; the plan is the plan, so stick to it.
Of course, things are never that simple. When I arrived at my apartment on the first day, I immediately recognized the reality of the situation. My mind was a mess, I had so much worries about what to do, who I could meet up with, where my future classes were, how I was even going to travel around the town--I didn't even think to account mental stress into my training program. The first two weeks went by without a single run because of the lack of sleep; I used to wake up at 4:00 in the morning to get my runs in back in Hawaii, and now I would rather much sleep in instead. By the end of August, I realized that I needed to get back to it. I had three weeks of good training left before the race on September 15th, and I was NOT going to let it go to waste. Endurance running is a special kind of sport; there is a reason why the phrase, "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" exists. I think that is a bit of a misnomer. Running through the wet streets of Copenhagen, I did not feel lonely at all, and that was partially because of my newfound friends. I found that the hours on my feet were a good time to process the emotions of arriving in a completely new environment while at the same time exploring said environment. In a way, the running routes that I chose foreshadowed the rest of the weeks as I passed through the second oldest amusement park, Tivoli, as I passed through the satellite center where I was supposed to pass through VISA processing, as I passed through the CBS campus, as I ran through parks both lush and urban, and as I passed countless coffee shops and bars where I would meet up with my friends. I remember going on my last long run a week before the race--a 2 and a half hour trek in the rain that had me soaked from my head to my toes by the end of it. The lowest it ever got was 56 degrees, and with a simple tank top and shorts, I was NOT dressed for it, and yet, everything seemed right. I was "in the zone." And what I discovered was that I was not as alone as I thought; I had told the people I had met at the orientation, and all of them were excited to see me run it. I had also told my closest friends back home--and they sent me their well-wishes before the race with images and videos of support 7000 miles away. All that was left was the goal ahead of me, and the training left to do. In my worries and excitement over being in a new country, I realized that I had forgotten what I came here to do: finish what I started. What pushed me to continue was the fact that I had friends and family supporting me, and I think that mindset really helped me out, even after the race ended. September 15th came on a Saturday. And it was hard. And rewarding. And my legs were dying by the end. My first official race ended with me nearly falling over from the final sprint at the last half kilometer. But hey, at least I got a shiny medal, a free beer, and an absolutely crushable 8-inch pizza (which, of course, I devoured whole). Most importantly, I got the hint that I still had a long way to go before my time in Europe ended, and I intended to make the most of it before I got on the flight back home. During my brief semester in one of the biggest bicycling countries in Europe, I was terrified of biking. Well, that's actually an exaggeration; I've ridden a bike before, but that was in 3rd grade during Bike Ed classes, and I haven't ridden one yet. Seeing all of the bikes rush past me on the sidewalk during the first two weeks of studying abroad constantly reminded me that I was missing something key to the Danish experience. And so, I threw myself out of the comfort zone once again and called up the two closest friends I had made so far in the city, thanks to the orientation: a Brazilian named Ed and a Singaporean named Hui. It so happened that they were in the same situation as me, and I was fortunate enough to find a Red Cross training program for new bicyclists which ran every Saturday afternoon. It was intimidating at first, but I found other people just like me, sometimes older and sometimes younger, who were also practicing. Many of them came to Denmark for work and were still trying to get their visa. Some brought their children, and others were university students. In fact, I met one who was taking a masters program in business administration at the University of Copenhagen.
For me, learning how to properly bike again was embarrassing at first, but I did not feel judged at all! This was around the third week of my arrival. After, the three of us decided to go to Reffen, one of the most famous street food markets in the city, seeing as we had nothing to do for that evening. The commute was fairly long, maybe about thirty minutes each way by metro and bus, but it was one of my most memorable days in Copenhagen. Before we arrived at Reffen, we also came across the Happiness Museum, a museum dedicated to sharing thought experiments and interesting facts about measures of happiness in the world; I remember entering a room filled with thousands of handwritten sticky notes, all of which contained notes of thanks and well wishes from anonymous visitors. I could see why Danes ranked one of the happiest people in the world, and I felt a sense of peace overcome me. To be honest, it felt like a dream; the sky was finally clear, the air was comfortably brisk, and when we arrived at Reffen, we were surprised to see that it was already bustling with people at 4:00pm. We each got ourselves ristet pølse, or Danish hotdogs--each of which included a mini Danish flag on top which we kept as souvenirs. I also decided to get myself a stout beer at a local brewery called Mikkeller for the true Danish experience. The marketplace was located near a dock, and there so happened to be public foldable chairs that overlooked the Nyhavn river. Everything was quiet but distant chatter of the other patrons and the lapping of the water right next to us. As we sat there chatting about our experiences so far in Denmark for a solid three hours, it felt like the golden hour lasted for a third of that time until we watched the sun set. For the first time, I felt like I belonged. For the first time, I truly felt like I could get used to this whole study abroad thing. |
Matthew Calulot
Aloha! I am a fourth-year Marketing and International Business student currently studying at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. I have never been to Europe before, which is exactly why I wanted to study abroad as a student from Hawai'i. Archives
January 2023
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