My semester in Copenhagen is officially over! I can't believe it went so fast. It's been an absolutely incredible experience that I would do again in a heartbeat and that I'll never forget.
Last visit with my visiting family! More gløgg and aebleskiver? I think so.
If you remember from a previous post, my visiting family is a Danish family that I met up with throughout the semester. They invited me into their home and I got to spend some really awesome days with them. They're absolutely amazing. The parents are Ninna and John and they have a daughter, Anne (23), and a son, Joakim (20).
Ninna, John, me, Anne, and Elizabeth (they're a really tall family...)
At this last visit, another DIS student, Elizabeth, and I met the whole family at a really cute restaurant for a Danish brunch. The place was adorable and only the 2nd time I've actually gone out to eat in Copenhagen (yes, I'm really cheap). So we had a delicious brunch together and they gave Elizabeth and I a box of cookies from a local bakery (sooooo good). Elizabeth and I gave them a card, chocolates, and a pretty ornament.
Then, we walked around the lake at Christiania together, which was really pretty. (More about Christiania later).
John, Elizabeth, and Anne walking along the lake at Christiania
Next, John and Ninna took Elizabeth, Anne, and me to Tivoli which is GORGEOUS at Christmas time! (Joakim left after brunch because he had a soccer game). There were lights everywhere and little Christmas markets all down the central path :) While we were there, we got gløgg and aebleskiver, of course, and it was delicious as always. Gløgg tastes particularly good when it's night time and freezing, like it was when we visited.
That evening, I said a sad goodbye to John, Ninna, and Anne, and I hope I'll get to see them again sometime. Anne is applying to Cal Berkley now to study abroad, so I hope she gets in! I'll be keeping in touch with the family through e-mail. Maybe someday they'll make it to Kennett Square and I can host them for dinner :)
Julfrokost ("Christmas Lunch") with the frisbee team! Be proud mom and dad, I tried EVERYTHING, including liver paste and pickled herring. Believe me, there are stories...
On my last Friday in Copenhagen, I went to a julfrokost, or Christmas Lunch, with the frisbee team I've been playing with here. Although it's called a lunch, they usually take place at dinner time and they all pretty much serve the same traditional Danish menu of food. This one started at 5 and we didn't start eating until around 8 but continued eating till around 11.
On the menu:
-pickled herring and rye bread (actually, not that bad, despite that the sauce it's in is bright yellow)
-mini shrimp with mayonnaise on rye bread (also, pretty good)
-roasted pork with onions and apples (still didn't really like pork chops but apples and onions taste surprisingly delicious together)
-frekadella (a type of Danish meatballs. you can find them everywhere and they're really good. I've had them several times before)
-red cabbage salad (the only vegetable you'll find at a julfrokost I assure you. I'm not sure why red cabbage is traditional, but it tasted fine)
-SNAPS! (this is a licorice-tasting alcohol that burns and is really not good, and the Danes will agree with you, but it's traditional to serve it at julfrokosts so its ALWAYS present. Randomly throughout the meal, someone will yell SNAPS! and everyone fills their shots glasses, starts signing a song that goes something like: "snaps! snaps! snaps! *something in Danish I can't understand,* oy oy oy!" and everyone takes the shot and afterwards everyone wears the same expression of pain on their face. about ten minutes later the cycle repeats).
But then...
-LIVER PASTE (this one took a lot of convincing from the people at the party to get me to try it. They all insisted it was "delicious" and "simply the best." I kid you not, it has the look, consistency, and smell of wet cat food. I put it on rye bread like I was told and tried it, and to my disgust it has the TASTE of what you'd expect wet cat food to taste like. It was absolutely disgusting and I struggled to eat it as I shook my head and wanted to throw up. Everyone was laughing as I frantically looked for my beer to get the taste out of my mouth. I couldn't find it, so they continued laughing and offered me a huge shot of Snaps instead. Snaps was without a doubt the lesser of two evils, so I took the shot. Right after, the guy who was sitting next to me goes, "So does that mean I can finish the rest of yours??" They genuinely LOVE this stuff... don't ask me how they stomach it. I clearly couldn't).
-Ris ala mond (this is a Danish type of rice pudding which is DELICIOUS and has chopped almonds in it and is served with cherry sauce. The best part: There's one whole almond somewhere in the batch called the "almond present." The person who finds the almond present get a prize, so people take heaping portions of the pudding so that they have a better chance of winning, despite being ridiculously full from the huge dinner. The prize at this one was a light up cowboy hat. I unfortunately didn't win).
After dinner, we played fun trivia games about the people at the party and then played a type of polyanna-present game with dice where presents just get shuffled all around the table, stolen from you, or thrown at you. Lots of fun. I won a heart-shaped box of mini Danish Christmas cookies.
The night was a ton of fun, but as always, it was sad to say goodbye to everyone. The team has a bunch of great people on it and I had so much fun this semester playing with them.
Second to last day in Copenhagen: Quality time with the Danes on our hall including brunch and ELF!!
On Saturday morning, our second to last day in Copenhagen *tear,* Blaire and I cooked a farewell brunch for everyone on our hall. We made vegetable frittata, pancakes (of course), and bacon. The Danes on our hall have zero faith in our cooking abilities, so the fact that we made a real brunch I think surprised them more than anything. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the food. Many were recovering from hangovers from the previous night and were thankful for such a filling breakfast.
Then, that evening, we watch Elf in our kitchen. Blaire and I made some joke in reference to the movie, but no one understood it. We were horrified to find out that none of them had seen only the greatest Christmas movie around, so we played it for them. They all really liked it. And of course they would. How can you not like Elf??
Packing... I still can never seem to finish packing until 3am the night before...
Per usual, I was not packed as early as I should have been. I chose to watch Elf instead of finishing packing on my last night (great choice). Then, I had to go around and say good byes to everyone which took a few hours. THEN, around 1am, I realized I should probably finish packing. I needed to wake up at 6am to pick-up Kristin at the airport, and my room looked like a bomb had gone off.
Some how it all fit into 2 suitcases
But, good news, I managed to have my room packed by 3am AND my two checked suitcases were both 15 lbs underweight. I have no idea how this happened... I came with 2 huge cardboard boxes weighing EXACTLY 50 lbs each; I left with 2 medium sized suitcases weighing 35 lbs each. Packing magic? Underpants gnomes stealing my stuff over the semester? Both seem like logical explanations to me...
