To illustrate just how horrible it has been for me, in late September, a friend and I made and thoroughly enjoyed one of the most underrated (and fall-coded) desserts: carrot cake.

I compiled a list of ingredients, and together we went to Netto, googling translations and whether we could substitute vanilla powder for vanilla extract. (You indeed can.)

We baked the cake in her kollegium’s common room kitchen and then whipped up a cream cheese icing to top it with. With easy access to grocery stores and our own kitchen spaces, I didn’t need to rely on dining hall desserts to hold me over through the season.

Sure, it was no spooky cupcake with orange sprinkles and dyed green frosting that surely would stain my teeth for the rest of the day, but instead it was a heavenly wheel of fall spices and cream cheese that I made with my own two hands. Maybe a little bit better, if you ask me.

Later, in early October, I made my first fall trip to Tivoli.

The huge amusement park closes down for weeks at a time to decorate for the new upcoming season a few times a year. During its off weeks in September, I would always pass by to eye the giant pumpkin placed at the park’s gates.

Then, once it opened again, it proved to be a perfect place to spend an October evening, full of Halloween decorations, warm drinks, glowing lights, and freaky little zombie baby animatronics roaming around the shops.

As far as I know, there is no Tivoli providing magic and festivities to my college campus back home. At least I can rest assured that I’m covered on that front here.

I searched the city each day for new sparks of color and crunches in the trees around Copenhagen. I was often left to complain to my parents back home every weekend that the leaves had not yet changed, feeling only a little sullen about the fall weather but lack of leaves actually falling. In the middle of October, however, the leaves finally began to change.

Around that same time, I took a trip up to Dyrehaven. It’s a nature preserve north of the city and home to the likes of animals that you don’t get to otherwise see around. I managed to catch not only an insane amount of deer just casually grazing over in a field, but also Dyrehaven’s kite festival. Dozens of kites swam through the sky, making it hard to choose where to look.

I also stopped by Bakken, which is actually the oldest amusement park in the world. It was smaller than Tivoli and had more of a county fair vibe compared to the magical powerhouse–probably partly because it’s settled within the middle of Dyrehaven and the woods, a little joyous sanctuary among the trees.

Imagine my shock as I join the line of people attempting to get into Tivoli on Halloween night, just to find that I am dressed like a scarecrow among a bunch of very normal-looking Danes and their kids. Still, I went in, and I wore that scarecrow costume with pride, treating myself to some churros to mend my grievances. In the end, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, as long as I can get my hands on something warm and cinnamony, which is plentiful throughout Copenhagen.

So, yes, it turns out they were all right. My autumn was terrible. With nothing to do, ugly sights around the city, way too much hygge, and a lack of magic and whimsy in Copenhagen, it was, to say the least, lacking.

In reality, I’m very grateful for my choice to study abroad in the fall, arguably the best season (anywhere, but especially) in Copenhagen. I will probably remember this one forever! 

It was special to experience seemingly every side of Copenhagen, with the hotter-than-expected summers dwindling into the wind-chilling winter, and the days going from longer to shorter throughout the semester like a steady countdown of my time there.

The city quite literally shed its leaves as I lived and studied in it. I got to see every layer. I’m not sure if I would have had the same opportunities if my circumstances were flipped. 

I’ve also been able to find a lot of comfort in the fundamentals of a fall semester. Jumping headfirst into perfect city-exploration weather, still finding ways to celebrate American holidays, appreciating the beauty of autumn, eating warm pølser (hotdogs) in the cold, and having the glow of holiday lights around to fight the short days at the cusp of winter: these were a few of the fondest parts of my time in Copenhagen. 

While it’s comforting to know that the fundamentals of fall are the same on the other side of the world (minus dressing up for Halloween, I suppose), I’m glad that I could get off of campus and get away from the fall I was accustomed to. 

Sometimes you need to leave a place, or alternatively, experience the autumn in a new place, to know what you’re really missing.