I arrived in Billund early afternoon, only to find out that all my luggage was still in Frankfurt! Oh well, things could have definitely been much worse. On the bright side, I was then greeted by my first host family, the Glavind's. After a long time of communicating over the internet it was so great to finally see them face to face. They were happy to meet me and I was delighted to meet them. Needless to say, I don't think I've ever felt so short in my entire life.
Outside Billund Airport with (from left to right) Clara, Markus, myself, Viktor and Ole.
From the airport we headed home to their beautiful old house in Vejle. Thankfully it was only a half an hour drive from the airport. After a long trip it's nice to not be confined to a vehicle or a plane. Shortly after we arrived I got my first taste of Danish food, delectable Danish food, as I would presently discover. We snacked on delicious "wienerbrød" (sorry, no picture.) which is most comparable to what North Americans would call a Danish, except for the filling isn't a little circle in the middle and the pastry itself is not round. It was decadent and oh.. so... tasty! I limited myself to one piece. As I've been told, tight pants are in style, so I don't have that much room to spare!
Before I continue I'll warn you that the majority of this post will be about food. Dansk mad er lige så god!
For dinner (I warned you.) We had a typical Danish dish that's known as, dans bøf med bløde løg og kartofler. Or in English, Danish beef with fried onions and potatoes. My stomach was so thankful to have a big, filling and delicious meal after a day and a half of airplane food. After dinner, completely exhausted I stumbled up to bed. Jeg sov som en sten...
The next day I woke up bright and early (yay for jet lag!). The most memorable moment of that entire day was simply a walk I went on with my host sister Clara and the family's dog, Ziggy. Why? For the entire duration of our stroll around the neighbourhood we talked only in Danish. I really surprised myself in a good way. The only conversations I had had in Danish before this were between myself and I or myself and the computer. I guess all that worked finally paid off.
I also had my first meeting with my lovely host counsellor Susanne.
For lunch we had another Danish specialty, rugbrød. Which is kind of an open faced sandwich on Danish rye bread with various toppings. My favourite combination of toppings was sausage or potatoes, fried onions and a special sauce called remoulade.
Later in the afternoon I got a small tour of Vejle with Ole and Clara on the way to pick up my bike in the neighbourhood of bredballe. We stopped by the family's sailboat and a couple of the town's beaches.
That evening we played the Danish version of president, which is slightly different than the version I knew, but still very fun. We also played a game that I believe is called spades in English, but I'm not 100% certain.
Today was another unintentional early rise. At 10 o'clock I went downtown with Susanne to get some legal stuff done (bank card, residence permit, etc.). Other than that it has been a quiet day. I fell asleep during the afternoon, studied some Danish when I woke up and now I'm writing this blog entry.
Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the beginning of my Danish life.
hello! it's Great what you talking about! It's really very interesting, you learn a lots of things. Your family looks really really nice. They do their best to make you feel good with them!
ReplyDeleteHave fun the next few days!