Two great things

This past week has been relatively uneventful, but two great things stood out: 

First of all, I (finally) have a visiting family! I was getting worried that I might never get a family, despite the fact that I signed up for the program ages ago, back in November or something crazy like that, but I was, and it was definitely worth the wait. My family consists of Tina and Johnny and their two daughters, Rebecca (12) and Theresa (11). They live in a town two stops west of Roskilde, so not too far from Trekroner. I went to their home this past Saturday and had a lovely day getting to know their family and participating in their daily activities. When I arrived in the morning, we had a wonderfully Danish breakfast of bread and various toppings (butter, cheese, jam, chocolate, etc) before going to Theresa's horseback riding lesson. Both girls ride, and they live in a more rural, really beautiful area so it was great to drive to the stables and see a bit more of the country side. 

While the girls rode, Tina and I walked behind the group, enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful country side and talking about absolutely everything, including the time she spent in America as an au pair. When we got back to the house she showed me her photo albums from her time in America - it was great to see pictures of New York City and Washington DC in the 1980s! We had a delicious (vegetarian!) lunch prepared by Johnny, whose first wife was a vegetarian and who knew lots about vegetarian cooking in Denmark. After bonding with Rebecca over decoding Harry Potter chapter names (a great way to learn Danish, I discovered!) we all packed into the car and drove even further into the country to a large forest surrounding the reservoir that holds the water for Copenhagen. It felt so good to be completely outside of the city and most of all just to be outside! I hadn't realized how much I missed nature and living in a rural area until then. 

After our walk, they decided they'd drive me home, but first we stopped in Roskilde to get some fastelavnsboller, a delicious pastry that looks something like this

(google images)

and is eaten around the Fastelavn holiday, a Scandinavian carnival of sorts that is celebrated the Sunday or Monday before Ash Wednesday. Children dress up and get treats, so it's sort of like Halloween in a way. Another tradition is basically a Danish version of a  piñata, only the thing being struck down is a large wooden barrel full of candy and fruits. Rebecca told me that the person who makes the first crack in the barrel is crowned the Cat Queen and the one who finally breaks it open is the Cat King. All in all, it was a wonderful day! 


The second great thing was my field study on Wednesday to the Carlsberg Breweries for my Danish Politics and Society class. We had a tour of the facility (which was huge, almost 100 acres!) and then had a beer tasting!

The brewery was founded in 1847 and is the 4th largest in the world

A copy of the little mermaid statue that sits on a rock by the harbor in Copenhagen. The original statue was commissioned by Carl Jacobsen, the son of the founder, and a huge supporter of the arts (there is a whole museum in Copenhagen full of his extensive art and sculpture collection) The house in the background is the founder's mansion. 

Two of the four Carlsberg elephants, built to symbolize the long lives of the four Jacobsen children who lived to adulthood (the other four died during childhood) 

Inside one of the old brew houses

The varieties

And the aftermath

Shiny copper brewing kettles in the visitors center

Carlsberg is one of the national symbols of Denmark, and there's a lot of rich family history behind the brewery (including life-long clashes between father and son, the former a lover of science and the latter a lover of art), so the whole trip was great!