Coping with a winter lockdown through my camera lens

On January 8, 2021January 12, 2021 By oregongirlaroundtheworldIn Copenhagen, Expat Life6 Comments

Documenting your own backyard as a method towards mindfulness

When lockdown version 1.0 launched last March, there was so much we all didn’t know. How quickly everyone maneuvered and managed new distanced learning dictates and the people who could set up their offices at home. Since my office was already at home, I shifted my workspace to afford the best places for the students. In fact, we have become experts at hot-desking in our house.

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Tune In These Alternative Christmas Songs From Scandinavia

On December 2, 2020December 2, 2020 By oregongirlaroundtheworldIn Christmas, Music, ScandinaviaLeave a comment

5th annual festive playlist of seasonal songs from Denmark, Sweden and Norway

GOD JUL FROM OREGON GIRL AROUND THE WORLD

Hej from here! It’s Jul time y’all. This is our seventh Christmas season in Scandinavia. Holy wow. That is surreal, even for me. We moved to Copenhagen in the dark December of 2014 and spent the first two+ weeks of that month bopping between Airbnb rentals like veritable vagabonds. It felt like forever. Maybe not as “forever” as 2020 feels, but everything is relative.

And while this year looked nothing like any of us planned, I’m grateful to be here in my home. Safe and happy surrounded by my little family. These songs are a snapshot of this season. In Scandinavia. I hope you find some new to you Christmas classics. It’s the 5th annual list I’ve made from here. You’ll hear a few foreign languages but should still feel the season. Enjoy the songs. Stay safe. Love your people. Cheers from here.

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Danish Christmas Gløgg – Where to Get the Best and How to Make it at Home

On December 1, 2020December 2, 2020 By oregongirlaroundtheworldIn Copenhagen, Holidays1 Comment

Try a traditional seasonal sip from Scandinavia

If you’ve been to a Christmas market in Europe, you may have tasted a glass – or special mug – of the warm spiced mulled wine served up at most of them. While 2020 has its reasons for calling off Christmas markets this season, you can still fashion a little festive flavor in your own home. Why not try the Danish version of mulled wine this year? Here, we all call it gløgg. The Swedes know it as glögg. And it’s good. I’m a big fan.

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Carve a New Autumn Ritual in Copenhagen at the Pumpkin Patch

On October 12, 2020October 12, 2020 By oregongirlaroundtheworldIn CopenhagenLeave a comment

Fall fun for everyone at the Kildebrønde Frugtplantage in Greve, Denmark

Creating fall traditions in a foreign country

When we first moved abroad, we embraced the local holidays and traditions and didn’t make much effort to impart ours on this place. It isn’t hard to do in Denmark, the ritual and relishing of special days is something easy to adopt. Especially around Christmas.

But autumn in Denmark never really filled my bucket. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful here in fall, but the autumnal activities we associated with the season weren’t as well known here. We’ve made Halloween work and taken days off for our Thanksgiving to share with Danish and international friends.

So in a year that has been the opposite of traditional and thwarted our trips to homelands, it has been especially important to create our own sense of ritual. And this weekend, we found as close as they come to our favorite fall outing. Right here in Denmark.

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8 Unique Autumn Outings Around Copenhagen

On October 8, 2020October 13, 2020 By oregongirlaroundtheworldIn Copenhagen2 Comments

Off the beaten track fun for your fall break exploring

FIND SEASONAL FLAVORS, COLORFUL ART AND WILD ANIMALS

It’s almost week 42 here in Denmark. Don’t work in weeks? Neither did I until I moved to Copenhagen, but the Danes definitely do. And week 42 is always fall break – or efterårsferie in Danish. Historically, this was a scheduled time off from school, so the kids could go home and help with the annual harvest. Nowadays, not as many families working on farms, but we still get the autumn pause.

For many living here, fall break is a brilliant time to travel abroad – when prices are off-peak and places less crowded. But this year, exploring looks decidedly different with ever evolving safe travel recommendations and changing border restrictions. With lots of us locals staying in Denmark for most of this year, maybe you’ve run out of creative ideas about what to do around here.