Hooray, it’s Friday! On this day, every Danish students’ community with the tiniest bit of selvrespekt has its own fredagsbar [FREHdasbar]. The literal meaning of the word is ’Friday Bar’. It is usually a place where you can buy a fadøl (draught beer) or three and sit down to enjoy the company of your friends in an atmosphere that just oozes Danish hygge. I was lucky enough to meet three students who were hanging out at a fredagsbar at the University of Copenhagen.

 

Who’re you?

– My name’s Nichlas and I’m studying dansk (Danish).

– My name’s Karoline and I too am studying Danish.

– My name’s Anna and I’m studying linguistics.

 

How often do you come here?

Nichlas and Anna: There’s only been a couple of times when we’ve not been at the fredagsbar.

Karoline: During my three semesters here I haven’t missed a single fredagsbar! Anna and I are even members of fredagsbarudvalget (the Friday bar committee).

 

Do you mix with people from other fields (than Danish and linguistics)?

Nichlas: It’s quite common to bring people udefra (from the outside), we’re fairly ”loose” with that. I’ve sometimes invited kammerater (pals) who were not university students.

Anna: There are a lot of people here, so you just don’t go like ”wow! there’s a newcomer.”

Karoline: Even though Anna and I study different subjects we get together in fredagsbaren (the ”Friday bar”). You create a network across different study and year groups because you are in this together.

Anna: I joined the bar committee because I wanted some more action; there isn’t too much partystemning (party atmosphere/mood) in linguistics.

 

Suppose you were exchange students… Would the fredagsbar be a good place to ”meet the Danes”?

Anna: I wouldn’t think so. My impression is that people hænger ud (are hanging out) after the classes. They either stay or arrange to meet with their studiekammerater (fellow students) later on.

Karoline: It’s probably not a good idea to come here all on your own.

Nichlas: Oh, you can! But that would require some serious social skills.

Anna: Yeah, people are generally very open if you do take the initiative to approach them!

Nichlas: If you just present yourself and sit down and say ”Hey, how are you, I’ll give you a bajer (beer, lager)”, I guess people will be easygoing enough.

Karoline: At least you should be frisk på (ready to/fit for, literally ”fresh on”) to take the initiative yourself.

Nichlas: There are many girls here at our faculty, so they can be a bit bitchy. 😉

Anna: We’ve got the lækreste (most attractive, from lækker, ’delicious, lovely, attractive’) girls of the entire University!

 

So here’s the place to score somebody? 🙂

Nichlas, Karoline and Anna: It is!

Karoline: The fredagsbar is a very intimate place, you know, it’s not a huge party. Many people just come to drink a beer and relax.

Nichlas: And the bar already closes at midnight.

Anna: I wouldn’t say it’s the place where you bump into foreigners on the dance floor.

Nichlas: But tonight there is a huge ”Danish party”, we guess there’ll be 600 people or something like that.

 

Do you often have temafester (theme parties)?

Nichlas, Karoline and Anna:  Yes, always!

 

What’s today’s theme?

Karoline: ”Hatte skæg(t) med briller.” It’s a word play. (’Hats, beard [skæg] with glasses’ – which in Danish sounds like Ha’ det skægt med briller, Have fun with glasses.)

Nichlas: Put on a beard and some glasses.

 

Is there a fredagsbar you remember above others?

Anna: We had a Bollywood bar. A Bollywood dancer came to entertain us, it was great fun.

Nichlas: The very first fredagsbar of the semester is always the most exciting, there are lots and lots of people here! Throughout the year, however, the fredagsbar is just a place where you can koble af (relax, literally ’uncouple’) and discuss non-study things with your fellow students. Otherwise you risk ending up as a weird bunch of fellows that just sit there staring at each other without being able to say anything other than ”komma” (comma)!