My host family is awesome. I had the greatest time with them over this long weekend at their summer house in northern Zealand. It felt like I was hanging out with my own family, and the farms, nature, and cow/pig smells made it seem even more like being back home in Iowa! :)
Here is where their house is:
The pushpin on the right is where their normal house is located, and the pushpin on the left is the summer house. It only takes about an hour to drive there, so they go almost every weekend in the summer. I would too if I were them! It is beautiful and so relaxing! The picture below is the main room in the house. The hallway to the left is two bedrooms and a bathroom with a sauna! On the right is the kitchen, two more bedrooms, and another bathroom.
The picture below is showing the room from the other side. Danes are obsessed with windows! They have a really nice backyard though and a deck with two more big tables. We ate outside a lot, which was really nice.
Here is the kitchen…
and the bedroom I slept in
My host parents (Lasse and Karen), Kasper (my 19-year-old host brother that lives with me), Pierre (Lasse’s son who lives with his mom usually), and I arrived at the summer house Saturday around 11am. Karen’s two daughters, Ann and Katherine, and Katherine’s boyfriend were already there. We just relaxed a bit and laid out in the sun (it was in the low 70’s but the sun was hot!) until the other guests arrived. I think there were about 15 people in total, and most of them were Karen’s late husband’s family. Everyone just sat around and talked (mostly in Danish, but a lot of them talked to me in English too), then we went on a walk to the beach before we ate Easter lunch!
Easter lunch is really popular in Denmark, even though hardly any Danes go to church. It is mostly just an excuse to get everyone together and drink and eat. It is really typical to have different kinds of herring on rye bread, so that’s what I ate! I don’t really like pickled herring straight from the jar, but my host dad made different herring salads that were super delicious actually. Lunch lasted a long time, and they kept bringing out more and more food… chicken legs, little chicken pies, fried fish filets, whipped cream fruit salad, and strawberry pie! Afterwards, 8 of us played a game called Kings, which is a yard game where you throw wooden sticks and try to knock down these little wooden poles. We played boys vs. girls, and the girls won by a long shot! Typical Denmark.
Everyone hung around talking for a long time, and they were all curious to find out what I think about Denmark and Danish people. It’s so funny because that is always one of the first questions I get asked when I meet a Dane, but I never ask what they think of Americans haha. Once everyone left, Lasse, Pierre, and I went on a short bike ride to see a 5200-year-old grave that was used during Viking times! They are all over Denmark.
Entrance to the grave
Inside one of the rooms. This one had two different rooms.
View from on top of the mound
Pierre!
Later that night we grilled sausages for dinner, then I showed everyone my pictures from my trips and told them all of my stories from traveling. On Saturday, we woke up late and had brunch before Ann, Katherine, Katherine’s boyfriend, and Kasper went back home. I decided to stay until Monday because I was having so much fun there and it was such a nice area. After they left, Lasse, Karen, Pierre and I went on a short bike ride to the beach and around a lake. On the way back home, we stopped at an ice cream shop and got cones! It felt just like summer :)
Ever since I moved in with my host family, my host dad has been talking about these Viking graves by their summer house, so he promised to take me on a longer bike ride to see more of them in the afternoon. Pierre came with us too, and I think we ended up biking for almost 2 hours with a few breaks of course.
It was a GORGEOUS weekend, and we were so lucky to have perfect weather. I never thought I would be warm wearing shorts and a t-shirt in Denmark, but I was! Yay! Oh, and one other thing I discovered on this bike ride… Denmark is not all flat! My legs got a major workout because apparently we were in an area where glaciers pushed up the soil during the ice age. Great. I wish my host dad would have told me that before I agreed to go on this trip. Just kidding, I still would have went.
The first grave we visited is called a giant room because instead of 2 rooms, it is just 1 huge room. It was about 12 meters across, and it was used about 3000 years ago.
The second grave we saw is called a Dolmen, and it only held one casket instead of a hundred skeletons like the others. It is also the oldest of the three we saw.
After our bike ride, I watched t.v. and played Guess Who and Matador (aka Danish monopoly) with Pierre. I hadn’t played Guess Who in forever, and it had the same exact people and names that I remember from way back when :) Pierre is hilarious, and he is really good at English! His humor actually reminds me a lot of my brother, Jacob’s, so I was pretty entertained. Then we had family dinner (ham, fried potatoes, salad, and wine), and watched a movie, Kingdom of Heaven. Of course I fell asleep during the movie, like always, but my host parents assured me it was extremely gory and violent while Pierre claimed it was awesome.
Today (Monday), we had a nice brunch in the morning again, then I laid outside and got a little suntan (another thing I never thought would happen in Denmark!). Then we cleaned up the house and left after lunch. It was such a relaxing weekend, and I also got to spend a lot of time talking to my host parents and host siblings. I am so glad my travel plans worked out so I could go with them to the summer house! I wish I could stay in Denmark all summer so I can go to their every weekend! My host family said I could live with them all summer, but unfortunately my wallet wouldn’t like that too much (or my mom and dad either).
Once we got home to Glostrup, I laced up my running shoes and went on a glorious 5 mile run in the magnificent weather. Luckily there is a trail/park right behind my house, so that is a little motivator for me to get moving. Also, everything is turning green, and flowers are starting to bloom! Too bad I only have 3 more weeks in Denmark to enjoy the nice weather.
I can’t believe how close we are to the end of the semester. It is really starting to feel bittersweet, especially since I haven’t seen my DIS friends for over two weeks! I am really excited to see them tomorrow when we start classes again and find out what everyone did on their vacation! Plus, I have my last wine tasting class tomorrow night!
Hej hej!
Emily
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