Gang Slanging

In the morning, my host Bryan in Copenhagen still hadn't messaged me back yet.

Bit of a panic here.

I joined the "Emergency Couch in Copenhagen" group on the couchsurfing website.  Basically, if you live in a city, usually that city has an emergency couch group where surfers can post when something goes wrong with their original plans.  It works because when you post in a group, everyone in the group receives and email instead of having to check online.  I received 5 replies from hosts that were willing to take me at the last minute, this is within about 20 minutes.

The new host I chose said he could only host me Wednesday and Thursday night, but not Friday like I had asked for.

Thank goodness he couldn't host me Friday night, and here's why...

I had planned to take a really long train from Copenhagen to Warsaw (via Hamburg and Berlin) on Saturday.  Because this host couldn't have me stay Friday, I double checked my train guide to see if I could go to Warsaw early.

Turns out I could go to Warsaw on Friday, but NOT Saturday.

I had read the schedule wrong and I would have been stranded in Berlin if I hadn't checked.

THEN Bryan from Copenhagen did message me back, saying come on over etc.

So really, Bryan not responding right away kind of saved my life. (Or saved my spine rather, train benches are even worse than airport benches)

Fortunately I could leave for Copenhagen as planned. But unfortunately I had to cut my stay short an entire day.  Then again, fortunately that gave me a whole nother day in Warsaw with my friend Gosia, whom I will be mentioning again later...

Awesome. Game onnn!

Mia had already left to get her hair cut with Luis that morning, so I text her and filled her in.  I then completely gutted my backpack and repacked it.  I had done this previously in Oslo as well. 

But when I repacked it, something had gone terribly wrong. 

I thought I would utilize the outer pockets since I wasn't going to be flying anymore.  When I put stuff in the outside pockets, it actually decreased the space of the pack's main chamber.  So when I repacked everything, even though I tried to keep the weight in the middle of my back like you're supposed to (thanks so much for that tip Alex) my pack ended up being taller.   Which I suppose wouldn't be such a big deal if you were Uma Thurman, but I am sadly about a foot shorter.

I was in such pain between Oslo and Gothenburg, and seriously in danger of falling over backwards.

I kept picturing my in the middle of the train station, belly up, rocking back and forth, flailing like a stranded turtle.

My pack is only about 20lbs (10kg) or so.  A totally safe amount of weight when distributed correctly.  Upon my repacking it in Gothenburg, it was ten times easier to handle.

I could have jazzercised with that thing on.

I met Mia at the central station, and we checked my backpack into a locker, since I didn't have to leave until after 3pm.  Then we were off to see all the things we couldn't fit in the day before. 

Item #1: The Viking Ship

Turns out it wasn't actually a Viking ship...

It was a ship named "The Viking"...

It was from the 1920's, NOT 14th century.

Whatever.

Item #2: The World Culture Museum

There really should be a certain set of qualifications and institution must fulfill before they can call themselves a museum (ahem, Leprechaun Museum...).  I'm not saying this place wasn't pretty cool. It definitely was.  But museum isn't a word I'd use to describe it. 

It had basically three exhibitions.  First was the Whipala.  The entire exhibit was a video, and an old Whipala that was about the size of a Band-aid.  The second was sort of a psychological exhibit that tried to portray emotions physically.  So for example, the room for contemplation was an enormous brain you could walk inside and hundreds of lights twinkled in a network similar to the way neurons work.  The room for falling in love was a large wooden "target" on the floor, with each successive ring spinning the opposite way of the next.  You could climb on it and get dizzy (slight urge to vomit?).

Sounds about right.

The last exhibit was all about traveling.  How appropriate.  It went into why people travel, where people travel, how people travel.  Not just tourists, but refugees, immigrants, gypsies, etc.  There was even a small section dedicated to couchsurfing!

By the time we had finished with the museum, it was time to head back to the train station, as I had to book my ticket from Berlin to Warsaw (for some reason Poland is not included in the Eurail pass?)

I don't think I've ever actually discussed the gift I give each host when I leave...

I have a deck of cards from Francesca's called Slang Cards.  They're larger than playing cards by quite a lot actually.  On the one side they have an American slang word, on the other they have the "dictionary definition" of it as we'll as a picture and the word used in a sentence.

For instance.  

Hot Mess

hot mess or hawt mess \'hät-,mes, 'hot-\ n. 1: an attractive individual or thing marred by a disheveled or down-at-the-heels appearance -syn.  Ham (hot-ass-mess) -see also CAKE FACE, BUSTED, FIERCE 2: a state of disorder that is somehow pitiful or embarrassing -syn TRAIN WRECK -see also RATCHET, FUGLY, JANKY, TO'UP

You get the idea.

They're all pretty hilarious, and I like that they are strictly American slang words. 

Mia got the card "Badonkadonk" because I did not know of anyone that would appreciate being able to use that word as much as Mia would.

So I said goodbye to my Columbo-Swedish sister, and boarded the four hour train to Copenhagen.

When I got on the train, after I realized that it didn't have wireless, I recalled that Bryan had mentioned that he lived near the "Valby station". I had told him exactly when I was arriving, and he was to meet me at the station. But we never really definitively said central station or otherwise.  I had just sort of assumed central station...

Crap.  You think I would have learned by now...

I thought, what the hell, I'll just get off at central station and email him from there.

Vi ses Gothenburg
Tegs