Visiting Host Family 2.0
My host family has been one of my favorite parts about being in Copenhagen. I’m so grateful for DIS for providing this opportunity, and I’m so glad I signed up. I would recommend it to anyone. I’ve met with my host family 4 times now. First for dinner at their home, then to visit Kronborg Castle (Hamlet’s Castle), then to Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, then the Aquarium and to visit the children’s grandparents.
Kronborg was beautiful, and right on the water so you could look across and see Sweden. This was the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet; there are performances of the play there every so often. (Jude Law was in one and some other well-known actors!). This is also where, according to legend, a Danish King known as Holger Danske sleeps until he is needed to save his homeland in the form of a statue under the castle.
Holger Danske (Holger the Dane)
We also went to the Louisiana Modern Art Museum. This is a very-well known museum in Denmark, but it’s about 40 minutes outside of the city. There, we saw a Picasso exhibit, which mostly showcased his sculpture and ceramic work. There was another exhibit about technology, social media and loneliness in the modern times.
Lastly, we went to the aquarium, which was light-hearted and very beautiful. The grandparents joined us, and could’t have been cuter. Although old, they were still full of life. They told me about the American students that they used to host and their travels around the US and Europe. Later on, they had me try the traditional “rød grød med fløde,” which is INCREDIBLY hard to pronounce. In fact, it’s a sort of funny tongue twisted that translates to “red porridge with cream.” From learning it in Danish class, I assumed it was just a nonsensical tongue twister, but it’s actually a dessert. It looks like jello with cream poured on top after, which made me hesitant. But being polite, I tried it, and was happily surprised! It tasted like the inside of a pie (it pretty much is being that it’s mostly just fruit juice, sugar, and a sort of thickener). This was a great day, and now I can say I tried rød grød med fløde!
