København

I got back from Copenhagen on Wednesday! It's taken me a while to collate everything to make a post, especially as I wanted to physically journal about it all first while it's still fresh in my mind. I was honestly so anxious before I went that I was almost tempted not to go and cancel the whole thing, and I don't mean to be dramatic but I feel like I've come back transformed. I often get too caught up in my own head, and being reminded that there's a whole big world out there does me wonders. I almost dread coming home as it's the fear of slipping back into old habits, but I feel more determined than ever to try and prioritise experiences and travel rather than spending all of my money on material objects. It's just not the same dopamine hit. The last time I went anywhere was Trieste (Italy) in July 2023, which was a month after coming back from Japan where I'd escaped to after being traumatised in Korea and unsurprisingly I did not have a good time in Trieste as I was still mentally unpacking everything that had happened. So this is the first real trip I've been on since 2020, before I moved to Japan, and I do feel like it's put me back in touch with the more carefree mindset I had back then. Let's hope I can hold on to it!

I only really went to Copenhagen to see Ghost, and figured I may as well have a few extra days to make a proper vacation out of it if I'm paying to go there anyway. Ghost were incredible, I preferred it to London (and I liked seeing them in London a lot!) The Royal Arena isn't as big as the O2, and I somehow got a really good seat. I think some were released last minute because when I was trying to figure out which country to go to the seats in Copenhagen weren't looking great until all of a sudden they were so I booked it quick. I was seated but first row and literally right next to the stage, and because the seats are on a platform so more level with the stage I'd argue I had a better view than the people standing at barrier and I didn't have to queue all day for the privilege. That was my biggest issue with London, I was so far away that it felt difficult to be immersed and I didn't have that problem at all here. I like being able to see the performers expressions (as much as you can with Ghost anyway), the details on the costumes, actually being able to identify the bassist over the guitarist, stuff like that. It feels more personal. There really were a lot of foreigners at this show too - Swedes, Germans, Brits, and Dutch were just the ones I heard, and even Tobias said that we'd "geographically fucked up his plans" as he'd assumed he was performing to mostly Danes.

I didn't really have any plans for what to actually do in the city otherwise, other than booking a ticket for Tivoli Gardens for one of the days. I'm a big theme park nerd and was quite excited at the prospect of going to Tivoli, one of the oldest theme parks in the world. When Walt Disney visited it inspired him to create Disneyland, and it has one of the oldest operating wooden rollercoasters in the world (which of coarse I went on!). It's really not a very big park and I knew this before going, you could easily get around the whole place in just a few hours and that includes going on all the rides. I still spent the whole day though, as honestly it was nice to just vibe in the gardens and read my book. I've been in a reading slump for ages and I read more on this trip than I have the entire year so far and it feels good! (I'm reading Conclave by Robert Harris as I saw the movie and was curious. I haven't finished it yet but I'm really enjoying it a lot! It's not the type of book I'd normally gravitate towards either which excites me and makes me wonder if I've boxed myself in too much with what I read which is what lead to the slump. But that thought is overwhelming too, as how on earth do you pick what to read from millions of books if you don't box yourself in at all!)

The robot lawnmower is dressed like a rabbit 🥹 I love whimsical details like that

For the other days I pretty much just wandered around on foot, and discovered some things by accident on my way to somewhere else. I looked up walking tours online, took a map from the tourist centre, and circled the bits of the walking tours that looked interesting to me and made my own routes. I looked at a lot of Hans Christian Andersen stuff as it's kind of everywhere, but also as an illustrator his works have always been a big inspiration to me (for my BA degree I illustrated a full book of The Snow Queen). It made me realise that I should try and do this stuff for British authors too, there's loads for AA Milne and Lewis Carroll and I just don't take advantage of it like I do when I'm away somewhere. I'm going to London next weekend to see BabyMetal so I'm already planning what I've missed there!

You'll be judged on sight and made to fit, so find a clique and stick with it

I went to London yesterday to see Mean Girls. Eh, I don't know. I'm not even a big fan of the movie to be honest, but I saw Georgina Castle perform World Burn on BBC's Big Night of Musicals and it intrigued me enough that I figured maybe I was overlooking it. After all, whether or not I like the movie doesn't always correlate - I love the musical of Heathers but don't particularly like the film, and I love the movie of Moulin Rouge but the stage musical is a mess. So you can't always tell! Heathers is probably the best comparison as both stories have essentially the exact same message to them, but Heathers does it better in my opinion but it probably does come down to personal taste. I found the humour of Mean Girls a bit too goofy and silly, more so than even the movie is. The last show I saw in London was Starlight Express which was also a silly, goofy time, but Mean Girls was so silly that Starlight Express seemed almost intellectual by comparison. And I think that's why I prefer Heathers, not only is it more my brand of humour but it also knows when to take itself seriously and have those heartfelt moments, which Mean Girls was lacking as it all felt very surface level and the characters were extremely one dimensional. I also straight up did not enjoy the music or lyrics, the melodies were barely distinguishable from one another and I really couldn't pull out a single song that stood out to me. It was okay and I'm not mad I saw it, but I also have no desire to ever see it again and it kind of confirmed to me that the current fascination musical theatre has with turning any and all movies into a musical regardless of whether it suits the plot is absolutely not for me and I hope it dies out soon.

I actually started my day at Kings Road, which isn't an area of London I've ever been to before despite it's fame. I had my heart set on going to Vivienne Westwood's World's End store though which sells exclusive items, as I was really hoping to splurge on a giant orb necklace. And I did!! It's a tiny shop and I'm not used to designer shopping so my anxiety was at an all time high of not knowing what to expect - am I allowed to just browse, will the staff by all up in my face, what am I supposed to say?? But it was fine and I felt really proud of myself to for doing it! I could have wimped out and emailed them to ship it to me (they don't have an online store, but you can email orders), but I really wanted to challenge my anxiety and force myself to just go and do it. The shop staff were very friendly and made small talk with me about my Labubu, but weren't pushy or overbearing in the slightest. And I got my orb! I've always wanted one of these necklaces ever since I started studying fashion at collage, they're iconic, and although it's something that's often counterfeited (which I disagree with on principle as an artist) the fakes cost into the triple figures anyway so at least having the real thing feels more of an investment than throwing my money away. I also got the dress I'd been eyeing up in Anthropologie last week.

I wore my thrifted Ganni dress as I knew I'd be looking in more bougie shops than usual so wanted to look the part, and also made the rookie error of wearing my new Doc Martens sandals with it 😖 They felt so comfortable out of the box and lulled me into a false sense of security. My feet are all cut up on the top, and covered in blisters on the sides and the sole, I can barely stand on them today! Even my slippers hurt! So I didn't get to wander round London as much as I usually would as I was in agony for much of it (even though I bought some socks and applied band aids). I'm going back at the end of the month though to see BabyMetal, so I'm not too mad. And I still did everything that I actually wanted to.

I'm exhausted today from it all though, and feeling very overwhelmed at the prospect of going to Copenhagen the day after tomorrow. I hope my feet heal quick so I can walk again by then!