My Own Danish Family!

Mary gave you a little taste of her visit to Copenhagen this past weekend! I miss her already :(  We had such a great weekend though! After a great lunch at Chili Mili's and a tour of Nyhavn on Saturday we ventured out to a Danish bar for the night! We ended up meeting some Danes who taught us very interesting Danish folk/drinking songs which we enthusiastically joined in on stomping our feet and jumping alongside them. It was quite an entertaining scene, I'm sure.



Chili Mili's endless choices of salads/veggies is right up my alley




Emily, me, Mary, and Abby in Nyhavn




Harbour in Nyhavn

 Before I left for Copenhagen, I signed up for the "visiting family" program through my school which assigns you a Danish family to go on outings with and spend time with during your semester. This enables students that don't live with a host family to get some cultural immersion.
After some email conversations we decided to meet in Copenhagen on Sunday for a tour of the city! So we woke up, made some eggs and oatmeal and then met the parents, Susanne and Christian, outside my building. They have two girls, Iben (8) and Annika (5) but a long walk through the city did not appeal to them.

The day was absolutely amazing. We walked around the city for a few hours and then they took us to a cafe for hot chocolate and cakes! We had great conversations about some of the funny cultural differences I had noticed so far, for example, how Danes DO NOT JAYWALK. It took me making that mistake one time to realize that was not acceptable in Denmark based on the looks on everyones faces around me. Christian and Susanne's response: Danes like to follow the rules. There aren't many rules so we respect the ones we have.

After our break, we walked over to Rosenborg Slot, a castle that I didn't even realize was around the corner from my building! It was sunny and warm in Denmark terms so we had such a nice time walking around. Here are some pictures of the castle and surrounding park:




Rosenborg Slot




Susanne, Christian, and I

 We made tentative plans for me to come to their home in Voerlose for our next meeting. They also invited me to a festival out there called Fastelavn and is similar to Halloween in the US. Also, since I love soccer they said they are planning on taking me to a FC Kobenhavn game in the city which will be amazing!

All in all we had a really fun day which was concluded with us taking a stroll on the frozen lakes outside my building. I'm going on my "Short Study Tour" to Western Denmark from Thursday-Sunday so I will post about that adventure once I return! 



Mary and I walking on the frozen lakes!


Hie Hie!  -Kelly