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July 5th

I arrived in Copenhagen last night after a grueling 10-hour layover in Iceland due to layovers. On my way to the hostel, I got lost multiple times. If it weren't the open friendliness of the people who live here I might not have ever found my hostel in the first place. Someone actually went out of their way to ask if I was lost and give me directions.
Due to jet lag and people who snore louder than Snorlax himself, I could barely get any sleep. So I decided at 6:00 AM to get up and get lost... this was the best decision I could have made! During my exploration, I started noticing things about the city that make it seem so ideal. There's a park every few blocks, barely any litter, beautiful street art, everyone bikes, and everyone to respect one another as well as there surroundings.


Later on in the day once our group had settled in and rented bikes, we made it a goal to get lost again. This was a completely different experience on bikes. Not only can you see much more of the city faster on a bike, but you also start to get an understanding of Copenhagens prominent bike culture. Here, transportation is an ecosystem in which everything has respect for their counterparts, whether that be drivers respecting cyclists, cyclists respecting each other, or even public transportation and pedestrians be respected by cyclists. This is not how I see America's transportation situation. In the U.S. All anyone seems to care about deeply is drivers. In Copenhagen they also allow cyclists to use nearly any street safely. Nearly all major streets have a raised bikeway, allowing the cyclists to get to where they're going as fast as possible while being safe. So far Copenhagen seems like what I've always learned a city should be,  except for the severe lack of minorities and people of color. But that's another issue. 

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