Losing My Way

Last year I started doing this thing where I would disappear from a party and no one would know where I went. At a certain point, it's just time to go home, but for me, I didn't like to let people know I was at that point.  Usually I drop the, "Oh, I'll be right back," or, "I'm just gonna run to the bathroom," and then bail.  I guess I don't want to have to explain why I am leaving or to have to wait around for the rest of the group.  Or I'm just an idiot.

It is okay to leave a party and walk home alone in Collegetown since the farthest you are going is probably around two blocks. But leaving a bar in an actual city (or in a different country) is not the smartest thing to do. My mom would not be proud of me.

I studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, this past spring, and lucky for me it is a very safe city. It is also lucky that I am white and blond (read: not a Turkish immigrant). I left the group multiple times in CPH and made it home safely every time, but if I had been anywhere else, I would not have lasted a month. I would probably be lying in a ditch somewhere in Eastern Europe, or better yet, had been sold into white slavery/become a mail-order bride (I survived Russia, guys!).

One night early on in the semester our large group split up with intentions of meeting at a main bar downtown a little later. Being of the latter and smaller group, I only had a few people to latch onto. Unfortunately for me, they were all spitting game at Danish men.  I figured I would just head to the other bar to meet up with everyone else. Too bad I was leaving a place called L.A. Tequila Bar and too bad I had just moved to CPH and knew none of the streets.  I wandered around the city for close to an hour before finding the other bar. And the pathetic thing is, I knew exactly how to get there.  There is a main walking street that goes from City Hall Square to Kings Square, two main areas of Copenhagen. All I had to do was follow it. There is one section of the street in the middle, however, that confuses the shit out of everyone. It totally throws you off and you have no idea which direction you came from, which direction you want to go, or why you are even there. I hit Kings Square three times despite turning around every time to head to City Hall Square. It's like the Bermuda Triangle or a vortex or something. Or, again, I'm just an idiot. I finally made it to the bar, shoes in one hand, and plopped down in the corner, exhausted. Someone handed me a beer and I stared at the wall until we left 10 minutes later. Great night guys! I was the loneliest girl in Denmark that night.

Another time I thought I could take one bus home when in actuality I knew that I couldn't, but I took it anyway.  There was a stop called Jagtvej on this bus route but there is the same stop on the route I was supposed to take, so I figured it couldn't be that far off. Too bad I was in the wrong neighborhood.  I walked 2.8 kilometers (which equals 1.7 miles) alone and lost until I finally recognized my section of Jagtvej.

Oops.

Soon it became a big accomplishment if I came back home with everyone else.  People would actually tell me how proud of me they were.  Hey, at least I was making progress.  I had one relapse when I went to a club for under 30 minutes (???), told someone I was going to the bathroom, and hopped in a cab to go home instead. I even got lost in our own apartment building that night, so let's all be happy I knew my address.