Hey. Look at us. Who would have thought? Not me!

A few weeks ago, I went to Copenhagen to meet two of my freshman year college roommates. This fall is the 20th anniversary of our meeting and we have now known each other for more than half of our lives - we wanted to celebrate! There were twelve of us in those two back-door-adjoining apartments back in 1999 and although we tried getting more of us together, babies and geography and jobs and general late-30s life chaos intervened and we had to make do with the three of us for now.

Even though I’ve known these women for more than half my life, and even though our group chat gives me life, I hadn’t actually seen them in person for a decade. And I have never done one of these kinds of friend-trips, either! What if they were charming and hilarious and easygoing in my memory and via text but not in close quarters for a week? Worse - and more likely - what if I was?!?!

In taking the plunge and booking this trip, I drew on memories of my trip to Bosnia with my mom a year ago. That was also outside my comfort zone but I did it and I will treasure the experience forever. It also helped that this trip has been in the works for around a year - I had a lot of time to warm up and work through my worst introvert/socially awkward penguin fears about how it might go wrong.

So. A few weeks ago, I went to Copenhagen to meet two of my freshman year college roommates and it was glorious. We talked about the old days and what everyone’s up to now. We talked about our kids, and also didn’t talk about our kids. We ate a ton of food and were the worst kind of grocery store tourists, clogging up the store aisles and buying only junk food. I am sure we talked too loud everywhere we went, and I am sure we did things wrong and alarmed the Danes. We drank terrible Danish Coke Zero and eavesdropped on Danes nearby, at least the parts we could understand, which were mostly the f-word and the names of our various prominent political figures. We shared a bathroom and got ready for each day leaning over the same sink and looking in the same mirror. We ate at an oatmeal restaurant for breakfast TWICE. We sat on a random loading dock on the outskirts of town eating snacks one afternoon until a brusque Danish guy came and asked us to leave. We stumbled upon a room full of original Carl Bloch paintings ACCIDENTALLY. Can you imagine?

We were introverted when necessary and socially awkward penguins TOGETHER.

Twenty years ago when you met someone during a particular life stage, you couldn’t just add each other on facebook and know that if you needed to, you could reach out sometime five, ten years in the future and get in touch. You had to put in effort! You had to exchange email addresses, and start email chains, and maybe even your own private bulletin board! But the payoff is so heartwarming. The payoff is getting together in Copenhagen for a few days and thinking every single moment: hey. Look at us. Who would have thought?

Not me.