Cold and colder

The light that used to stream into our room waking us up for our 8:30am classes disappeared long ago. Now the wide open curtains serve only to remind us of the inevitable rain complementing the 45 degree weather. But it’s not just the mornings that are dark and gloomy – the sun now sets at 4pm, and it’s only November.

So how can it be that despite the 17 hours of darkness Danes are still some of the happiest people on the planet? I was determined to find out.

My first great idea was to ask a friend who has spent the last two years doing his masters in Copenhagen what he recommended doing to make the most of the city despite the inescapable overcast skies. Unfortunately, he had nothing for me (maybe because he wasn’t a Dane). But I had no intent on wasting my remaining time sitting inside watching Netflix. So my next port of call was actually figuring out what Danes do in the dark season from a local. Luckily my Outdoor LLC leader had my back and through our most recent Thursday night activity he introduced us to winter bathing, known in Danish as Vinterbadning.

So what exactly is winter bathing? Well it’s extremely close to how it sounds – you jump into the icy waters of Copenhagen. But it’s really not as terrible as it sounds, in fact it’s by far one of the best things I’ve done here, and that’s all thanks to the sauna right next door.

Let me run you through how the night went. We left home at 5:45pm (by which time it was pitch black outside) and made our way via metro and train to where we were going winterbathing, arriving just in time to meet out ‘Sauna Master’ at 6:30. Although, I’m pretty sure our ‘Sauna Master’ was just the guy who had a membership to the winter bathing club. But given the club had a 12 year waitlist he definitely deserved the title! After stripping down into our swimwear we stepped outside into the cool air and quickly migrated to the sauna. Unsurprisingly, like everything else in Copenhagen, the sauna was beautiful. The fourth wall was a huge slate of glass overlooking the water and lights of the city and inside the environment was about as hygge as it gets. It didn’t take long for people to start complaining of the heat and the executive decision was made to brave the cold and head down to the water. It seemed that we were all so eager to experience it that within a few minutes all 20 or so of us had managed to pluck up the courage and make the jump off the dock into the icy depths, and of course proceed to rush back to the warmth of the sauna. Jumping into the water was an amazing feeling and I can definitely see how it gets addictive, with many Danes doing it multiple times a week. Once we were back in the sauna our Sauna Master told us the story of how this particular winter bathing club came to be. I was surprised to find out that there was actually no single owner, but rather every member of the club co-owned the saunas for the reasonable price of just over 100 USD a year. In fact, the saunas were built after a group of the original owners agreed to compile their cash and all buy into the great idea. When our Sauna Master suggested that we try to bring this collective effort back to the States and start a sauna club there, his comment was met with chuckles, but maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try out back in New Zealand!

While winter bathing was definitely a foolproof treatment for seasonal depression as well as a great edition to my ‘survival list for Denmark’s winter’, I was still looking for more hygge. So next stop: Bastard café.

This cafe – dedicated to board games – literally screams hygge. The cozy atmosphere coupled with hot drinks, snacks, and multiple walls lined with board games invites everyone within its walls to enjoy a wholesome night of games, and that’s exactly what we got.