On Kindness, and the Promise of Sunshine

Midway into the semester, it seems that we are finally witnessing the first breaks of spring, and it is oh so nice. A couple of days ago, I was sitting on a park bench in Ørstedsparken, looking out at the water. A woman in a yellow raincoat sat beside me. She began to speak to me in Danish, and when I told her I didn’t understand, she said this, gesturing at the sky: “We have been longing for this.” 

It's not the best picture, but imagine how you would feel seeing this after two months of darkness ...

This has happened a lot, actually; people begin to speak to me in Danish, and then I have to tell them that I don’t understand. Pretty quickly, though, they switch to English, and the exchange is fine. To think that the Danish language is as small as it is, and that someone would think I speak it, feels like I’ve been entrusted with something special. 

I feel like most people applying to DIS wonder what their interaction with Danes will be like, especially if they don’t live in a Kollegium and won’t be living with any. I will say that for myself, it seems like I have had a lot of lucky chances with meeting Danes, and I think you might too. 

During a field study for my Danish class, we visited the old high school of our professor, and there we were paired up, in groups with another group of Danish students. We were all more or less the same age despite the educational differences, and one girl named Annika invited us home for dinner. We set up a time over text, and a couple of weeks later, it was time.  

I didn't take any photos outside or inside their house, but the outside sort of looked like these houses/buildings

Annika’s parents were named Sussane and Thom, and they were very nice. Upon Natalie and me walking in the door, Thom announced, “This is how a middle-class family in Denmark lives.” Well, let me just say, their house looked incredible to be middle class. Dinner was fantastic, and they asked us a lot of questions about what we thought of Denmark. It was interesting hearing their perspective against ours. 

My one friend from Richmond, Erica, is living in a homestay with her roommate Nikita. And so, I’ve ended up being invited over for dinner a couple of times. Lisbeth and Steen are her host parents, and they are the best. They are one of the oldest, if not the oldest, host couples in DIS Copenhagen, and they’ve had over 40 students.

Lisbeth ended up asking me if I wanted them to become my visiting host family, and naturally, I said yes. Now, I get a transportation stipend to visit them, and there are little events here and there that I am invited to with them. 

At the last dinner I had with them, I tried to practice some of my Danish. We were having a traditionally Danish dish called Burning Love. It’s pork and onions over mashed potatoes.

Photo credit: https://nordicfoodliving.com/danish-burning-love-braendende-kaerlighed/

I tried to ask why it was called “Burning Love,” but no one really knew. "Burning Love is called Burning Love because it’s burning love!" Steen declared. Well, det er supergodt! I responded. That’s right, Lisbeth said, it is quite good.