Liz's European Adventures: BPM Julefrokost!

Again, BPM is what I am studying (Business Performance Management). Julefrokost is directly translated as Christmas Lunch. Christmas lunches (dinners, really) are a BIG deal in Denmark. You get together with your friends, your family, your coworkers...anyone and everyone, really. Any reason to celebrate and party!

My first Julefrokost was with my class; again, for parties like this, Danes dress up very nice. Most guys wear shirts and ties; a lot of girls wear black dresses and hosiery (yuck...I avoid this whenever possible!). The atmosphere is always hygge (cozy). Danes are huge fans of candlelight, which I think I will take back with me! One of the girls in my class loves cooking, and she prepared the dinner for all 15 of us! It was totally a traditional Danish meal, and give me credit, because I TRIED EVERYTHING....even though some of it was REALLY HARD FOR ME!!!! Our menu consisted of:

Herring (yes, cut up pieces of raw fish) on a Danish rye bread with this sort of egg salad-like spread
Some kind of fried fish on rye bread with remoulade spread
Pate (pig liver) with bacon
Chicken Tartlets (kind of mini chicken pot pies)
Dessert: rice pudding with cherries on top

How many of you are surprised at the moment?

You are supposed to bring your own alcohol to drink at these lunches. I brought some wine. The launch of the Christmas beer is HUGE in Denmark...so most Danes drink Christmas beer as long as it is available (each brand has their own version). The launch consists of a huge countdown, everyone knows what day they can go buy a beer, and I think on that day of, you can't purchase one before 9pm. There is even a Tuborg (brand of Danish beer) truck that drives around the city with a countdown that day. I also learned that Snaps is a big thing for Christmas lunches. It is a type of liquor that Danes take shots of (especially when eating the herring) and sing a song to...all in Danish, of course. I was the only non-Dane at the party, so I was selected to begin the song each time...yikes! At any rate...shots are shots...but this stuff is AWFUL. Stuff you can only take sparingly, in the spirit of the culture and the holiday season.

And I have many more Julefrokost's coming: this Friday with all of the people who work for ASB (thank heavens for my job with the career center!); in two weeks with the girls I play soccer with. That next Sunday with Nanna (my buddy) and her family. And the Saturday after that, one at the Cafe that Rachel and I frequent. Should be a busy holiday season!

Rachel taking a shot of Snaps! She is not in my BPM program, but some of them have adopted her and invite her over. She came over to hang out after our Christmas lunch was over, before we headed to Klubben at the school.

A view of the table after dinner...should have gotten a picture before!
Johan, Maiken and Christina

Camilla and Me - funny story, Camilla's good friend is on exchange in the US....at SLU! She even has my buddy professor Dr. Shaner as one of her teachers! Anne and I have emailed about Aarhus and St. Louis...kind of fun.