rock on roskilde

Roskilde Festival-a one way ticket that will have you diving straight back into the Danish culture. It's a place where literally anything goes. Roskilde is a place where the usual shy Danes stand at the basins offering soap and shampoo to total strangers, it's a place where it's totally normal to wake up to Harry Potter themed music at 5am in the morning, it's also totally normal to play beer bowling at all hours of the day and lay out in the sun with a warm cola in your hand for breakfast, it's a place where it's okay to have a shower in baby wipes every morning and a place where it's totally okay to smell like beer and cigarettes because the 100,000 other people smell exactly the same way. Roskilde festival is  a world of its own- with food that tickles your Tuborg filled stomach fancy at 2am in the morning and music to suit all tastes with the likes of Paul Mcartney and Disclosure taking to the stage this year. Roskilde is something that everyone needs to experience in their lives…. Because there really is nothing better than the feeling you get standing at a concert on orange stage with a Tuborg in your hand- that special orange feeling.

For those regulars who have followed my love affair with the land of the Vikings, you already know that back in 2013 I went to the festival. I wasn't allowed to camp however due to rotary rules, and instead cycled back home every night to my second host families house with my exchange pal Lauren. Back in 2013, I experience the orange feeling and it was pretty spectacular. This year though was really different and I fell in love with Roskilde even more because I was able to camp with my class and experience what some would call the full festival experience.

The Roskilde saga began on Friday the 26th of June. After I had been up to my old school to see the official graduation ceremony with my class, I was picked up by my friend Emilie’s dad bearing all my luggage for the week and dropped off at the festival site- which wasn't yet open. Part of the full Roskilde experience is camping out in line for the best camping spot. So that's what we did along with majority of my class camp (all up there was about 22 of us). And we waited, froze, got rained on, used a giant tarp as a shelter, got rained on some more and froze even more. Not much sleep was had that night…. But it was an experience. The next morning we did some more waiting, and a lot of standing up and being trampled on because everyone wants to get a good camping spot. Then at 4pm the race begins and the annual Roskilde run takes place. It is literally chaos, with people running left, right and centre. Before running in, I asked my friends if they had a plan…. Their reply was bare løbe... Which in danish means just run… So that's literally what I did. With my friend Emilie’s beside me I thought that I had it easy because we could see each other.. Boy did that plan epically fail as everyone became absorbed into a mass crowd frantically running through the camping grounds. With the L tower in sight I just ran along with everyone… And then realised that it probably wasn't the smartest idea because I couldn't see anyone from my class. So with a phone in hand I called everyone- with no response and realised that they were all in the same boat as me. But I managed to run into everyone at the same time, and so the frantic setting up of tents began. I lived in a tent with my two friends, Karoline P and Emilie. Between the three of us, we aren't really seasoned campers. We fit into the glamping category. So putting up the tent was hilarious, as we didn't really have any idea what we were doing. Denmark also put on a show deciding to rain just as we put our tents up. But after the struggle, as tempers were running high after an evening of no sleep ‘vores plads er lort venner’, we eventually settled into our camping place near the L tower, christened the ground with a game of beer bowling and waited for the rain to go away…. Consumed a gourmet burger and went to sleep- at a very ungodly hour of the morning.

And so then began the real Roskilde festival. Thankfully the sun came out the next morning at 5am when myself and Emilie had to fix our tent which decided to collapse on us during the middle of the night, told you we were ‘glampers’ But so began Sunday at the Roskilde                                                                                         Festival, with a sweet Harry Potter tune blasting from our 16 year old neighbours camp…. The day literally consisted of beer bowling, sitting in a camping stool, applying sunscreen, downing another Somersby, eating more burgers and chips, listening to music, hygge and then at about 10pm, full gas is given and the music gets louder and the beer consumption doubles.. Time to get our boogie on at our camp and pump up the music. I can't remember which night it was, but everyone was in bed except for the boys and we all woke up to this really weird ducky duck music and 20 total strangers with the boys in our class dancing the new morning away… That ladies and gentlemen is Roskilde festival for you. I could go on and on about the countless stories and memories that were made at our beloved campsite and L tower… But I think that this blog post would exceed the limit. All I can tell you is that the warmup days at Roskilde consisted of limited amount of sleep, three showers and lots of 2am burgers…

Then Wednesday rolled around, and the first night of the music began. To have a break from the festival world and be reminded that there is in fact a world that exists outside of the festival, all my class went to the local Chinese restaurant where we had a buffet dinner and enjoyed the luxury of a real toilet. It was a nice hyggeligt  afternoon. Thennnn back to the dust and dirt of our camp to see Pharell Williams play on orange stage…. Now Pharell’s hit happy was fantastic- don't get me wrong it was awesome dancing in a mosh of people that could fill the capacity of the MCG. But as for the rest of the hour …. Well Pharell babe I think you need to get your places right…. Roskilde is not in fact Copenhagen... I was kind of disappointed by his concert.. I feel like he could have given it more gas. I was not disappointed however by the band Muse. Their concert was wicked and they gave sooo much gas and had the whole crowd enjoying themselves. I only knew two of their songs, but it didn't really matter. I was in the company of three major muse fans who danced and jumped their way through the hour and a half concert. Muse I can safely say that I am a fan. Up next on the music agenda was Florence and the Machine- a top contender for my favourite concerts at Roskilde. Her voice literally gave me goosebumps. It was a really chill concert and you've got the love was 1000 times better live.  the DJs Disclosure also didn't disappoint and it as defiantly a dance party on orange. This was also up there with my favourite concerts because it was just so fun. The Norwegian DJ Kygo who is so hot right now in Australia with his song firestorm also pumped the stage at 2am in the morning… There was so many people and all of my class went to the concert but only four of us remained to see the rest. It was worth being squashed up to hundreds of people and he did not disappoint. I also better mention the sweet Marie Key- the Danish artist who I am s big fan of. You could just genuinely tell that she was having the time of her life onstage and it was a joy to watch. Nikki Minage also graced the stage in her gigantic stilettos and crazy costumes, looking down at a crowd who hadn't showered in a good few days.. At least Nikki wasn't off with the starships though because she knew exactly where she was in the world…. Something that perhaps Pharell could learn from. And then the legend Paul Mcartney who I saw only half of due to extreme exhaustion.Four days of major headliners and artists from around the world. A short snippet of the music side… But Roskilde festival as I learnt this year is so much more than just the music. At the start of the week, one of the boys in my class said that he goes to the festival just to be together in the camp….. And at the start of the week I just looked at him because I did not understand at all what he meant. Now that the festival has come to a close, I can honestly say that I totally understand just going to the festival to have a good time with your friends. The music is honestly just a bonus. I had one of the best weeks ever and have many many stories to tell that may not be best to share in this forum…..

The festival officially finished for me on Monday, when I went to work with my first host family just like I did last time I was at the festival. If you volunteer at the festival ,you get an armband so basically you get to go for the labour you volunteer instead of paying for the actual ticket. A pretty good deal. For our work, we had to take down a Kvickly stall and take up all the floorboards, wash the cash registers and pack everything together. Not too bad. My friend Cecilie was also there, and we visited our camp at the end, and there was not much that remained. We also managed to find a good tent that Cecilie can use next year and maybe me if I'm there again next year :)

So today is now Wednesday which means I have about two and a half weeks left in Denmark. At the moment I am visiting my first host family which is really great. Yesterday we went out for a sailing tour on Roskilde fjord and enjoyed the Danish summer rain. Now that the festival is over, I can plan my time a bit better and try and fit and see everyone that I need to whilst I'm here :)

Until next time

Xxx