Mayhem!

May 1st is Denmark's Labor Day, which is celebrated with giant festivals all over the country. The biggest gathering is in Copenhagen's Fælledparken, and traditionally was a day-long celebration and campaign day with a mix of political speeches and music drawing crowds of people of all ages. Apparently over the years it has become more of a giant party for young people, although all Danes I've met have said that it is an event worth my going to (especially as a "young person"). So yesterday, May 1st, I set out to celebrate Danish Labor Day with some friends from DIS.

A group of young guys en route to the festivities (at least,
I'm assuming given the cart of beer they were pulling)

I got up and rushed out the door to get to an early morning field study. I arrived out of breath, and joined my class on a pretty awesome/unique walking tour of the city (which I will describe in another post). As soon as we finished, I dashed off to my volunteer site for the last time this semester (which I will also describe later). When I finally left to meet my friends at the park it was already 3pm (and I had to get home by 7).

The city was buzzing! Not only was the weather absolutely perfect, but many people have the day off, and thousands gather at the park. I walked to get the 6A Bus (which my volunteer coordinator had told me I should take). At the stop I inquired whether this indeed would take me in the right direction. A very nice lady told me to walk to Central Station and take the 5A instead, so I thanked her and walked the 25 minutes to Central Station. When I got there, I figured I should make sure that the 5A was actually correct, and so I asked at an information booth what was the most efficient way to get to Fælledparken. The woman told me to take the 1A, which required going down to a platform, walking to the other side, exiting the station, and crossing the street. Okay. I looked at my watch. The time was making me very nervous....

I rushed through the station, down the platform, up the stairs on the other side, crossed the street and JUST made the bus. Once I'd shown my transportation pass to the driver I asked which stop I should use to get to Fælledparken. He told me that he didn't speak English. I tried (in Danish) again. May 1st? Fælledparken? No luck. I decided to just hope for the best, so I thanked him and found a seat. I was nervous that the bus was empty (given that I was going to the biggest celebration in Denmark). Several stops into the ride we reached a metro station and the bus instantly was jammed with people. A good sign. When everyone got off, I followed, and asked someone on the street which entrance to the park was closest to the hospital (which is where I had agreed to meet my friend, Becca). I was directed to a square with a statue, where I waited, searching the crowd for her face. No such luck. In fact, we had the opposite of luck because as we were trying to find each other, her phone died.

I wondered whether I should give up and just go home (it was now just after 4pm). Rather than being a fun afternoon, it had turned into complete chaos. I decided to walk around inside the park, just to get a feel for things so I could justify my confusing/stressful trip, but once inside I was amazed by the size of the crowd and instantly in love with the scene. People stretched as far as the eye could see (and beyond)! Colorful picnic blankets carpeted the grass and groups of friends were laying barefoot stretched across them. Music was blasting and flags were waving. I decided to stick it out and thanks to Josh's cellphone battery, Becca and I managed to communicate and find each other!

Becca, Me, Cara

I joined the group and got comfortable: Becca and I chatted while I sunned myself on the blanket; there were two girls from my Norway trip who were also there and we caught up about our transitions back to classes after our trek in the fjords; I met some of the other people they live with. It was a totally relaxing reward for having run all over the city. And I have to say that being part of the scene not only made me feel like a young person, but like a young Dane! ;-)

Eventually, just before 6pm, I had to start heading home.

Becca decided to head out with me and while we were walking back I took the photo below. In it, you see only a small portion of the HUGE line for the porta-potties. Right next to it is a completely exposed island of urinals for guys... a hilarious idea and totally cruel placement: while women have to wait 30-40 minutes in line, they have to see round after round of guys freely step up to the urinal, use it, and then leave. However, Helle pointed out something funny later in the evening when I mentioned it...

.... you know EXACTLY why the guys in line are waiting for the porta-potty, which is probably pretty embarrassing. Still, not fair! It also reminds me of my first day of Developmental Disorders when my prof asked our class (of all girls) what we would want to do as a guy... 2/3 of us answered: pee standing up!

As we left the park things were definitely quieting down

 Back at home, I had dinner with the Hellesens for the first time in 3 days (though it had felt a lot longer). When I walked in the door, Mira came running to meet me and prevent me from walking to the dining room via the kitchen (she had made a surprise)! After we finished the meal, she disappeared into the kitchen and brought out....

the most AMAZING homemade dessert!

She had the day off from school for the holiday and spent it making this completely and totally from scratch... everything including the jam (made from fresh strawberries), the whipped creme for the filling, and even the waffles (for which she made the batter, started to bake/form them, and then had to shape them into cones before they dried within about 10 seconds)! I was SO impressed... this girl is 12 and totally independent: She found this recipe online, took herself to the store, and made it (although she'd never made anything like it before). Go Mira!

The pastry-chef!

All in all, it was a chaotic first day of May, but it ended up being even better than I had hoped. I collapsed absolutely exhausted, but only because the day had been so full: field study/walking tour, running to volunteering, volunteering, running/getting hopelessly confused on the way to the park, desperately searching for my friends, and (finally) relaxing in the sun for a bit with them (before running home for dinner)... a great day, but one that certainly wore me out! 

Oh, by the way, the most efficient way to get to the park would actually have been to take the 6A bus (if you remember, the one that I originally planned to get on). No matter, I got to see a completely new part of the city, which given I am leaving in just two weeks, I would never otherwise have seen... It's all just part of the grand adventure!